


when flight falls short

by aquarius_galuxy



Series: sword to my shield [4]
Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-14 00:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4543245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquarius_galuxy/pseuds/aquarius_galuxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are consequences to using magic when he isn't supposed to. Fai tries to deal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Spoilers:** everything up to the Celes arc  
>  **Warnings:** deviates from canon. Future chapters may be rated M.
> 
>  **Notes:** This is a continuation to _'the sword to my shield'_ , in which Fai uses magic, and Kurogane finds out. More drama, more bittersweet, more family stuff.

Mokona's magic circle flared out wide around them, sudden and slowly spinning, intricate runes glowing beneath their feet. Winds whipped up along the edges of the circle; the last of their belongings scattered through the spartan room, too far out of their reach. Syaoran went immediately to the princess, put an arm around her shoulders to shelter her through the coming transportation.

Kurogane would have been an idiot to miss the relief that washed through the wizard's face.

"Time to go!" the pork bun cried miserably. "Mokona is sorry that not everything is back in storage!"

"Don't worry about that, Mokona," Fai called above the howling winds, his smile almost genuine, "You did your best."

Kurogane chose not to mention the way the idiot had been limping around the house hours ago, after he'd taken the shields down, and especially not the way he kept touching uneasy fingers to his trouser pocket. Had he more fluttering paper birds to unleash? What else was he hiding from them?

For all the suspicions and questions he harbored, there was no more time to brood upon them now, so he gripped Souhi's sheath and stood his ground—someone had to be ready for the next world they landed in.

Reality warped around them, a curious sensation of them being sucked headfirst into a gigantic vacuum, and then they were no longer in Nagare.

* * *

They landed on a piece of flying rock.

At least, that was what Kurogane saw of it, before three other bodies slammed him to the ground, and a ball of fluff bounced off his head.

"The hell?!" he thundered. On instinct, he swept his senses about them first—no threatening presences—before resuming his tirade. "Why can't you have them land somewhere other than on me, you useless pork bun?"

"Mokona tried her best!" the little creature squawked indignantly, hopping on his head. (Her inconsequential weight made the action a lot less painful (and a lot more humorous) than it would otherwise have been.) "Kuro-pon should be more grateful like Fai always tells him to!"

A light groan sounded above him before he could force a retort out; thin fingers patted their way up his mouth and nose. "Am I touching Kuro-puu's shouting face?" the too-familiar voice lilted above him. Scarred fingertips trailed softly along his jaw, and he found that he remembered that touch, only too well. "You don't have to yell, you know, we're all right here."

"Get your damn hand off me!" Kurogane snapped, unnerved. Anger rose high and indignant in his gut. This, he could control. It was something he chose to concentrate on, when Fai wriggled heavily on top of him. "Get your entire body off, you idiot!"

Above them, the children were stirring, and the wizard laughed lightly. "Well," he began in a tone too sultry for Kurogane's liking, "It seems that I'm trapped on top of you for the foreseeable future, Kuro-tan."

Rage bubbled in his middle. Syaoran choked above them; Sakura began to apologize. Mokona chirped and bounced further on Kurogane's head, and he wanted to kill something,  _right now_.

"I'm really sorry, Syaoran-kun, Fai-san, Kurogane-san!" Sakura yelped. She was the first to scramble off their dog pile, wriggling to find footing on the uneven rock surface they'd landed on, and Kurogane clenched his jaw when Fai pushed his cheek into rough ground.

"Idiot!" he snapped.

The children scrambled away in a hurry; Fai took his time and stood, dusting himself off. Dirt particles landed on Kurogane's face like bits of powdery snow. He sneezed violently, eyes watering.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he snapped at Fai, who grinned brightly at him and sprung backwards (despite a sprained, heavily-bandaged ankle) to neatly avoid a purposeful swipe. With enviable finesse, the blond shifted his weight onto a sturdy wooden cane he'd brought with him from Nagare, shrugging like he didn't understand a word Kurogane was saying.

(The fear clinging to Fai's countenance in the previous world had mostly eased now that they were in this new place, something he didn't miss.)

"Kuro-pyon is very energetic," Fai sang, skip-limping towards the kids. "Don't you agree, Mokona?"

"Kuro-rin is a big fierce growly bear!" the pork bun crowed. She squealed when Fai snatched her up from Syaoran's head, and Kurogane charged at them both. "Or a horrible barky dog!"

He was going to pummel them into bits, he really was, but Kurogane was a ninja and had better things to be concerned about than two  _children_  who seemed to exist only to annoy him. With a great amount of self-restraint, he turned his back to them, surveying their surroundings.

Solid rock stretched out beneath his feet, towards the backs of low, drab buildings not too far away. It appeared that they'd landed close to the deserted edge of the island (if you could call it that)—there was noise and a few people where the buildings were, and no one had noticed their arrival yet. Cerulean sky panned out above, odd for the absence of clouds, though there were other hovering rocks in the distance, and little dots flying between them.

Past the edge of the island... Kurogane had a bad feeling about it.

"Whoops!" Fai yelped behind him.

He turned back to look (probably some stupid antic again) and found the mage backing away from the boundary of the stone, bland surprise darting through his features. Mokona squealed. As if he'd noticed the attention, Fai turned back to him with a stupid smile.

"It's a long ways down, Kuro-pipi," he supplied helpfully.

This, he believed, but he stalked close to the edge of the floating rock anyway, to gauge for himself just how far of a drop it was.

Miles below, past the steep fall, deceptively small clouds drifted by, and beyond that, dark grey-green earth lurked ominously, lined with pepper-white mountain ridges and stretches of deep blue ocean. It was so far down that it looked like a painting almost, surreal and majestic and nothing like he'd ever seen.

"It's not an illusion," Fai said thoughtfully.

Kurogane backed away from the edge of the precipice, wondering if this floating island they were on would plummet suddenly to the earth below. There was no time for useless fear, though, so he glanced towards the children.

"Is there a feather in this world?" Syaoran was asking.

Mokona nodded, perched on his shoulder, pointing past the buildings shielding them from the population of the island. "Mokona feels a feather in that direction. But it's a very faint feeling."

* * *

Half an hour and a change of clothes later, they were gathered in front of the vehicle shop.  _Cars,_  the neon signboard above proclaimed. The shop itself was wide and open, like a garage, with metal sheets for siding and thin columns between lifted doors. Various machines were spread out in front of the shop, with spaces in between so potential customers could take closer looks at the car of their choice.

Kurogane noticed one thing immediately—

"These are so adorable!" Fai enthused beside him, a tiny smile tugging on his lips as he stroked his fingers along his chin. "They'd fit four children, easily, but I don't think there's space for both you and I in a car like that, Kuro-pon."

There really wasn't. They had seen metallic contraptions like these in previous worlds, ones that had wheels and rolled on streets, with glass windows and gleaming bodies, though they never had the occasion to ride in one before. In this world, however, their only means to reach the feather would be to use at least one of these flying machines, that every other person seemed to operate with ease.

"You don't know how to drive that," he muttered to the idiot.

Fai angled a sharp grin at him. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Or does Kuro-puu have learning difficulties?"

His banked temper snapped, and the blond twisted away from his punch with another inane smile. "Kuro-wan wants to hurt me!"

If hurting the man would get him to shut the hell up, Kurogane would definitely have considered it. But it was uncannily impossible to land a hit on Fai unless the idiot allowed it, and that little fact irked him to no end, like a buried splinter in his skin with no leverage protruding. He focused his attention on the various vehicles spread out in front of him, stalked down cramped paths and narrowed his eyes at the selection.

"Well, have you picked one out yet?" Fai sidled back to him a while later. The kids had opted to stay at the sidelines while the twit was getting in and out of his hair. "If you haven't, I'll choose a car for you."

"I'll do that myself," he snapped, pointed out a black automobile that seemed workable and not overly cramped.

The mage raked his eyes over the machine (it looked like a race car almost, low and sleek with two thick red stripes blazing up its bulbous hood, and large, round headlights on either side of a horizontal chrome grille). "Hyuu, Kuro-sama has good taste."

Kurogane clicked his tongue. "I'd rather not fall out of the air halfway through traveling."

Fai hummed at his response, turned to wave down a short, beady-eyed boy dressed in a shirt and greasy overalls. "Masayoshi-kun, was it?" he chirped brightly. "Please tell your boss that we're ready to make our purchase."

The boy nodded and disappeared back into the garage. Moments later, a wizened old man followed him out, stooping so low that his trailing mustache and eyebrows almost touched the ground.

The transaction took place quickly and smoothly. (Fai's attempt at bargaining fell flat, which wasn't surprising, considering how this was the only car dealer on the island.) The keys were handed over, and Fai opted to pay a little extra for Masayoshi to take the cars out of the crammed mess they were in (though this was mostly so they could observe how the boy handled the vehicles).

"Feeling up to driving, Kuro-tan?" the idiot sang, limp-waltzing up to him when Masayoshi was out of earshot, and Mokona and the kids were the only ones with them. They were back where they'd initially landed—out of sight of most prying eyes to master the vehicles without incurring suspicion.

"Quit asking stupid questions," he snapped at the mage.

The car Fai had chosen was a flat pastel blue. It looked somewhat ridiculous (stupid like him), like a semicircle stretched reluctantly (asymmetrically) lengthwise, and there was hardly any space to fit anyone but him and the princess in it. Syaoran would, naturally, be riding along with Kurogane in the other machine.

"Stay here while we figure this out," Fai told the kids cheerfully.

"Oi," Kurogane began to say, but the idiot had slammed the door shut and started his engine, and  _whoosh_ ed off the edge of the island. Then he dropped out of sight.

"Fai-san!" the kids shouted in horror, stepping towards where the mage had gone down.

"Fucking idiot," Kurogane growled. He swung his door open and jammed his key in the ignition, turning it so the engine roared to life. There wasn't time to ask anyone for a quick lesson, and Fai's taunt about him having learning difficulties still rankled.

He could do this, help or no help.

The car rumbled around him, low and steady, solid in its build. Hesitation had flitted through the wizard's face when he glanced at the price tag, but he hadn't complained, and Kurogane wasn't going to shortchange himself on something as crucial to his life as a car—he was going to return to Tomoyo in one piece, damn it.

He stepped on the gas pedal. This was what he'd seen Masayoshi do—the car lurched upward, off the ground, and Kurogane stepped on the other pedal, to test it before he sped off the edge like the idiot did. At once, the car slowed down to a stop, and he lifted off his seat by an inch, before dropping back.

He grinned. This wasn't too bad.

In the next few seconds, he'd grasped the function of the steering wheel, jiggling it and hitting various buttons on the dashboard to figure how to move the vehicle forward and back.  _Learning difficulties, my ass._

The window panes had rolled down in the midst of his investigation, and he heard Sakura's gasp heartbeats before he decided he was ready to go save the stupid wizard. If the idiot hadn't already crashed somewhere.

"Fai-san!"

Powder blue streaked up through the air two yards away from him and braked to a stop; Kurogane snapped his gaze out to his left, glowering at the ridiculous grinning face through the driver's side window. "Do you need some driving lessons, Kuro-chi?" the blond called out.

"I don't need help!" he roared, shoving his foot down hard on the gas pedal. The car shot upwards—

"Seat belt!" Syaoran exclaimed urgently, waving a booklet above his head way down below. "Kurogane-san, you need to wear your seat belt—"

His voice petered out.

What was a "seat belt"? Kurogane stepped on the brake to slow down—he was going to lose sight of the island entirely otherwise—and felt momentum carry his body away from his seat. He gripped the steering wheel to anchor himself, braced an arm against the car roof (it wasn't enough) and the top of his head cracked against the velvet-lined roof. Stars danced in front of his eyes, sending pain through his skull while nausea crashed through his gut. He swore, shook his head hard to clear the dizziness, looked around himself.

The only thing approaching a belt in appearance hung from the walls of the car, and it extended as he grabbed it. Vaguely, he remembered watching other drivers slide this strap across themselves. He did the same, found that the gleaming metal piece fit into the slot next to a red button. It held him snug to the seat (would have been helpful to have  _before_  he hit his head) though he didn't really care about the details at this point.

"Kuro-rin?" The powder blue car flew up alongside his, pointed in the opposite direction like before, so they weren't talking over an empty seat. Fai leaned slightly out of the window, peering at him in concern. (He was wearing a seat belt, to Kurogane's aggravation.) "You stopped suddenly, and Syaoran-kun said you weren't wearing a seat belt—"

"I'm fine!" he snapped grouchily, grit his teeth so the pounding in his head would go away. "Let's get that feather already."

Fai wasn't smiling when he scrutinized Kurogane and his seat belt, flying a little higher so he could look into the car. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Kurogane bristled. It took him a little while to remember how to operate this thing, and he slowly guided it to where the children were waiting.

The mage had landed way before he did, and was chatting with Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona when he parked the car with an awkward bump. Fai slid a meaningful look at him, then returned to giving Syaoran instructions, a light (fake) smile hanging on his lips.

"You missed our discussion," the blond chided, looking at him reprovingly when he finally stumbled out of the car. (Solid ground was very nice to have right now.) "I was thinking, maybe you should let Syaoran drive instead."

"What?" Kurogane yelped. He stared accusingly between the boy and the twit; Syaoran looked uncertain, even more so when Kurogane bared his teeth. "I didn't hit my head that hard!"

"The fact remains, Kuro-pon, that you hit your head," the mage announced knowingly. "Besides, we'll need to give Syaoran-kun a chance to learn to drive, too."

"What about me?" Sakura piped up next to him, bright-eyed.

Fai smiled kindly at her. "Not yet, Sakura-chan. But perhaps soon!"

Her shoulders sagged in disappointment. Kurogane could see why Fai had chosen to hold back on that, though—the girl was a klutz, a fact they had all witnessed back in Outo. He sat with the princess in reproachful silence when Fai took Syaoran into his stupid-looking car and showed him the controls. They went for a couple of rides—first it was Fai driving, then Syaoran, and by the time they got back, the yellow-orange sun was slowly creeping towards the horizon, casting shadows from beneath the rocky islands.

Kurogane was feeling much better by this point (as much as he hated to admit it).

"Let's start heading over, shall we?" Fai announced, when he finally landed with Syaoran. Kurogane grunted his agreement, and they began moving.

* * *

"What kind of music do you like, Sakura-chan?" Fai asked, smiling brightly at the girl beside him. Syaoran had pointed out the radio console earlier; he had not thought about tuning in to a broadcast until the princess was in here with him, and they'd gained momentum enough to focus on things other than flying. A circle of orange light had appeared on the dashboard next to a gauge; he wasn't entirely sure what that was about, though. There were way too many gauges on this thing.

"Um, I don't know," the redhead fumbled. She watched when he twisted the knob to turn the radio on. Scratchy music pushed out of worn speakers—it wasn't a brand-new car. "What kind of music do you like, Fai-san?"

"All sorts," he answered honestly. (Because the princess deserved the truth when he could afford it—she was the sweetest, kindest, warmest person he'd ever met. It wasn't difficult to see why Syaoran loved this girl so.) "Did you like the music we played in the Cat's Eye Cafe?"

"Yes!" she said emphatically, her face glowing in the apricot shades of sunset. Below them, the clouds were painted pink and gold, and the mountains and flatlands beyond that reflected the colors of the darkening sky.

"Mokona liked it too!" the little creature chirped from Sakura's lap.

Fai watched the princess from the corner of his eye and felt himself melt a little. His grin mellowed; warmth kindled somewhere in his chest, giving life to his dulled, murderous heart. Even his ankle didn't seem to hurt as much anymore. "Why don't you turn the dial—that's how you change the channels on the radio."

"Okay!" With a smile, the princess leaned closer towards the console, delicate fingers grasping and turning the flat knob.

It was somehow gratifying to watch as the princess trudged her way through the various stations, then learned to adjust the radio frequency so the country music sharpened and background noise fell away. Fai raised the volume, lowered the window panes so the wind rushed through their hair as they picked up on the chorus and sang along.

" _He was only seventeen,_ " Sakura sang, grinning from ear to ear as she exchanged a look with Fai and Mokona, " _But when I saw him I couldn't look away._ "

It was cozy in the little car. Perhaps it was the sheer slightness of her frame, or perhaps it was because Sakura herself was sitting next to him—Fai didn't mind the cramped space at all. Were the ninja here instead...

Fai glanced at the black vehicle in his rear view mirror. The puppy team seemed to be holding up fine. He'd declared Kurogane fit to drive—no unevenly-sized pupils and no more dizzy spells, though his irritable nature meant Fai couldn't read that as a lingering symptom of a concussion.

Despite the head injury (or perhaps because of it), Kurogane had been watching him all day. Fai wasn't sure what to think about it. They were already too involved with each other. Last night—  _(No, don't think about that.)_  Kurogane saw through too much of him, and... He was probably the only one to do so in a long time, since Ashura-ou.

" _He stared at me and asked me to dance,_ " Fai added his voice to Sakura's and Mokona's, still grinning at the princess. " _And I said, no, no, no, no..._ "

The vocals faded into instrumentals, so he took the opportunity to ask, "Would you dance? If Syaoran-kun asked you to?"

Crimson swelled into her cheeks; she looked away, into the fiery sky. "Um, I... Maybe?"

"Syaoran wants to dance with Sakura," Mokona piped up.

"He would be very happy if he gets the chance to dance with you, you know," Fai told the princess lightly. "Like I said, your smile gives him energy."

She flushed to the roots of her hair, and he glanced away to give her some privacy.

There was a huge island looming up ahead, the angular tops of its tallest buildings lit by the glow of sunset, whereas the lower reaches had already been cast in shadow. In this light, they could see the crags along the underside of the floating rock, thrown into sharp relief by the evening sun. Specks of light glinted in the shadowy lee of buildings; cars swarmed around the bottom levels of the island.

Fai estimated it would take another half an hour for them to reach it.

"What about you, Fai-san?" Sakura inquired with the most guileless smile, "Who would you dance with?"

He blinked at the question, smile fixed on his lips. (Black hair, dusky skin, scarlet eyes that glowed in the dark. Hungry, wet heat and—) "Why, I think I would want to dance with you too, princess!"

A surprised giggle left her throat. "Me? But I'm not—"

"You're still a princess, Sakura-chan," he assured her with a wide grin. "It should be me who—"

The car lurched forward with a sputter; they jerked hard against their seat belts. For one dragging moment, they hung suspended in the air. Then they were hurtling downwards, hood tipped forward so they could see the blood-pink clouds rushing up at them.

Sakura shrieked next to him, Mokona clutched tight to her chest. Fai swore, stomped on both the gas and brake pedals; neither worked. He really should have anticipated that something would go wrong sooner or later.

Freefalling through the sky wasn't a sensation he appreciated. Not when he didn't have wings, couldn't fly, was weighed down by a lump of metal with the princess in danger right beside him.

"I guess that was why the light lit up on the dashboard," he tried to say, but his hands were slick with sweat and his heart was thundering hard enough to break his ribs.

(Was this what Fai felt when he fell from so high—)

_(Did you— It hurt, didn't it, Fai, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—)_

"Fai-san," Sakura gasped. He turned jerkily to look at her, and saw thick fear in her eyes, her chest heaving with panic.

(She didn't deserve to die, but he did, he was a murderer—)

His first impulse was to free both Sakura and Mokona and send them towards the black car with his magic. But they were falling fast—too fast—and the projectile spell would not be accurate the further he dropped away from Kurogane and Syaoran.

Fai clenched his jaw, tugged one hand away from the steering wheel and began to scrawl runes in the air (this was two worlds in a row, now), a levitation spell that would overcome gravity—

The car was heavy. It didn't take much of his energy to slow the vehicle down, however, magic blazing through his veins into his fingertip and out into the air, bright violet shapes that trailed out the window and wrapped around the machine, slowing its descent until his heart was no longer in his throat, and Sakura wasn't gripping on to her seat with bone-white knuckles. The scent of hot metal filled his nose.

"I'm bringing us back up," he gasped, still tracing runes in the air.

"I'm sorry," the princess mumbled miserably. "I should have learned more about the car from Syaoran-kun. I'm sorry, Fai-san, for making you use magic again—"

"Hush," he whispered, sweating not with the strain of regaining the lost altitude, but from the memories of screams and falling bodies. If he had to do this for half an hour, for an entire week until the princess reached safety, he would. "It'll be fine, Sakura-chan."

"But—"

The girl's protest was cut off by a roar. A black streak flew towards their windshield, and for a stomach-twisting heartbeat, Fai was afraid that Kurogane was going to crash into them (he had to hurry, to create a barrier and another levitation spell—)

But the black car swerved to the side, and Kurogane stuck his head out of his window, glowering at him. "What the hell were you doing, you  _idiot_?"

He made damn sure not to look at the ninja in the eye (Kurogane was only this angry when he was worried, and Fai didn't want to think about why), focusing instead on the bright, trailing spells he continued to wrap around the car. "Which direction, Mokona?"

"That way," the creature began to say, pointing to his right.

The other car dropped out of sight suddenly, and they were bumped upwards.

"Pork bun, get down here," Kurogane hollered, "I'll do the steering."

Mokona looked between Fai and Sakura with indecision; Fai spared her a glance and a weak smile. (Why did the ninja have to be so bone-headed?) "Go, Mokona. We'll be fine."

"Okay," she whimpered, patted Fai's sweat-slicked forehead before hopping onto the car door, and down.

It was in painful, trying silence that they resumed their journey towards the great floating island. Fai did not release the levitation spell—couldn't afford to, not when he didn't know how much fuel Kurogane had remaining. Sakura rode next to him, shoulders and fists tight with tension, and Fai sent her a reassuring beam whenever he could.

The fall had dragged out long-buried memories of his brother  _(Fai, Fai, Fai)_. Despite his attempts to avoid them, he couldn't stop seeing the wet drip of dark blood, the thin, shriveled face that had been his own mirror-image. His arms ached, empty, and he trembled.

Only after they crossed the boundary of the great island did Fai and Sakura allow themselves to relax. The sun had set fully by now, leaving them in the half-glow of twilight, and the huge rock city was lit by bright white-blue spotlights from above and little orange lamps on street-level. Lofty buildings crowded each other towards the middle of the island, decreasing in height closer to the edges of the near-vertical rock face.

There was still work to be done, though, so Fai kept the levitation spell, weaving between shadowy buildings until Kurogane guided them to a quiet filling station. (Curiously enough, no strange looks were sent their way—was running out of fuel a common mistake here?)

He set the car in front of a gas pump (other cars were parked before similar thick columns with fat hoses pushed into them) and collapsed against the steering wheel, sweating and shaking, pulling the spell back into himself. Right now, he didn't really care if anyone saw evidence of magic. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and go to sleep, hide himself somewhere away from Fai's accusatory voice telling him he was a murderer (like he didn't already fucking know).

The engine of the car behind cut off, and soft footfalls trailed over to his window.

"Mage." Kurogane's voice was low, maybe concerned, and Fai really did not want to look at him right now. "Hand the money over, the kid says he knows how to fill these things up."

Faint surprise flickered at the edges of his mind  _(now's not the time to think about Fai)_ ; he forced a smile onto his face and cheer into his body, and pushed himself upright, grinning sunnily at Sakura instead. Her worry eased when she saw him, and he patted her hand before she could open her mouth to apologize again. "I'm glad you're fine, Sakura-chan," he told her honestly.

He wanted to see her safe. That much, he could admit to. He could even tell himself that it fell in line with his task, because she wasn't someone he had been ordered to kill.

"I'm glad you're fine as well, Fai-san," she replied gratefully, green eyes alight with relief. "I promise that I'll be more helpful from now on!"

"Don't worry about it," he told her wanly, "It wasn't your fault."

"But—" Sakura protested.

"Oi, the money." Kurogane rapped rudely on the driver side door, and Fai slowly dragged his attention back to the ninja. Syaoran had hurried over to the princess, bending towards her at the other window to ask anxiously about her.

"So impatient, Kuro-rin," he chirped, even though his voice was a little hoarse. But the other man wasn't going to go unless he received the money, so Fai pulled the pouch from his pocket and dropped it into the large, outstretched hand, careful not to make contact with (warm, comforting) skin. Kurogane tossed the pouch to Syaoran over the roof of the car, and the boy hurried away. Sakura left the car to follow him—presumably to learn what she could about these flying machines.

"What happened back there?" the ninja pressed, fixing Fai with a scarlet gaze. His strong, solid jaw was set, and his broad shoulders loomed over Fai, casting him in partial shadow.

"Well, it appears that the extra lessons with Syaoran-kun used up some of the fuel we had," he answered sheepishly, still smiling. "But you saved the day, Kuro-pon! What a hero!"

Kurogane glowered at him. "Cut the crap, idiot. You didn't have to use magic back there. I had enough fuel to get us here."

He blinked at the larger man, stunned. "What?"

All of those magical trails he'd left behind— And  _Kurogane_  telling him not to use magic—

"I'm not repeating that." The other man clicked his tongue, looked away. "But you shouldn't drive right now. You don't look so good."

Fai glanced at his quivering hands resting in his lap, knew that the ninja had seen them too. "But I—"

"Give the kid a chance. You taught him yourself." With that, the other man stalked away, and Fai was left staring out the open window, blinking when low grinding noises sounded towards the back of the car—Syaoran was showing Sakura how to refill the fuel tank, and was getting better at it, it seemed.

He pulled himself out of the vehicle, limping over to where the kids and Mokona stood, watching a meter on the pump tick away. "Hyuu, Syaoran-kun, you sure know a lot more about this than grownups like Kuro-rin and I!"

The boy flushed. He waved towards the white booklet from before, rolled up in his trouser pocket. "Well, mostly it's just from reading, Fai-san," he said modestly.

"It's a pity I can't read that," Fai told him, smiling. (No, he didn't need to use magic to do something so unnecessary as read.) "Why don't you teach Sakura-chan the things you learn? I think she'd like that."

The princess gasped and turned wide emerald eyes on Fai, and he grinned at her. "I— I would appreciate it!" she stuttered.

She smiled at Syaoran, and Fai decided to edge away while the children lost themselves in each others' eyes.

He turned to look when the passenger side door on the black car swung open.

"Get in," Kurogane said from within.

Why, in the name of sanity, would anyone do so?

"You must be joking, Kuro-tan, there's no space in here for both of us," Fai hedged. There was no way, absolutely no way, he was sharing such a cramped space with the other man. It was far too intimate.

"You aren't driving. I told the kid he could," came the blunt reply. Kurogane was now voluntarily _sharing a space with him_? Someone he professed to hate? (But then again, last night had happened—)

"What?" he whined, pretended to be offended. "How could you, Kuro-myuu, Syaoran-kun—"

"Is capable of driving."

Fai frowned, bent down to send the ninja a reproachful look—

But the heat in those wine-red eyes sent the bottom of his stomach swooping down to his feet. He swallowed, straightened when the boy and his princess trooped up to him.

"I'm glad you trust me to drive, Fai-san," he said with utmost solemnity. "I won't disappoint you and Sakura-hime."

That was what did him in, thoroughly, and the damn bastard in the car knew it. "Well," he began, smiling to cover up his irritation, "I have faith in you, Syaoran-kun."

The children beamed at him, bright and excitedly, and he couldn't help but watch as they piled into the powder-blue car ahead once the refueling for both vehicles was complete.

"You're more cunning than I gave you credit for, Kuro-tan," Fai muttered reproachfully when he squeezed into what little space there was left in Kurogane's car. The other's shoulder pushed across the space above the center console, and Fai took particular care to avoid that contact.

Kurogane merely smirked, a sharp smile that he felt, more than saw. It was the same self-assuredness from last night, and it sent a coil of heat winding through his middle.  _Don't think about it._  "That's payback for earlier."

They began to drive off first. In the side view mirror, Fai watched as Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona followed in his car.

"You smell like magic," Kurogane said after a moment of silence. Fai flinched.

He'd put off thinking about Ashura-ou and everything to do with his magic while they were trying to get to this place in once piece, but now that Sakura was safe...

"You're going to run off tonight again, aren't you."

It wasn't a question, and Fai wasn't answering to anything.

"Idiot," Kurogane mumbled.

The bulky concrete buildings rolled by them. Fai remained staring out of the window, resolutely ignoring his unwelcome companion. That had been a lot of magic, released over a great distance, and he was going to need way more than five little birds to cover that entire stretch. How much time would that take to create? To recapture his magic? Did they even have enough money to spend on that additional fuel?

All that, provided that Ashura-ou didn't wake and transport himself here in the next few hours.

Fai winced. Could he really have avoided using his magic? He would have needed it anyway, to cushion the fall, but to make the rest of the trip to this island without it...

He worried at his lip, tried to forget the roiling in his stomach. Since when was Kurogane this confusing to be around?

"It's none of your business," he yielded quietly in the end.

Kurogane snorted. More silence stretched between them; he wasn't even sure where they were going, so he finally asked.

"It looks like there're some cheap places over on this side of the city," the larger man pointed out, checked in his rear view mirror. He shook his head a little, as if trying to clear his thoughts. "Kids are still right behind us."

"That concussion is not still bothering you, is it?" Fai guessed. Really, the ninja should be the one resting instead. "There's no need to exert yourself, Kuro-pon, you're enough of a hero already—"

"Shut up," Kurogane snapped, red eyes flickering momentarily towards Fai. "It's not like you're in a state to drive yourself."

"I am," he protested indignantly. His hands weren't shaking anymore, and besides, he wasn't the one who sustained a head injury. He stretched his fingers out in his lap. "Unlike you, I'm fully capable of thinking clearly—"

"Don't be stupid. You're the one with the busted ankle," the other man interjected. "'Sides, I've fought with worse injuries than a bumped head. It doesn't affect my thinking."

It was amusing how this surly man, who probably wasn't older than twenty-five, talked to him like he was an idiot. (Well, Fai every right to pretend to be one, even if he was far older than twenty-five and most definitely not an idiot.)

Multi-storied buildings rose up around them, lined with dark windows, some with garish neon signboards advertising their prices, and Fai weighted the costs with the relative appearance of safety each building possessed.

"This place up here," he said suddenly, leaning against his seat belt and looking up through the windshield. "It looks like it'll hold us for the night."

Droopy, dull flowers lined the border of the property and edged a path all the way up to a little office, which had a warm orange glow spewing from grimy windows. Eight floors of neat square windows pressed on top of the lobby, most lit with yellow light peeking through curtains, while others lay dim.

Kurogane flipped a turn signal on and guided them past the flashing pink "Vacancy" sign, below which lay angular black characters that he said promised hot baths and a free breakfast. It sounded pretty decent, all things considered.

They parked and got out of the car, waiting around long enough for the kids to climb out of Fai's vehicle with no issues, before heading into the lobby—Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona would catch up on their own time.

Bells chimed against the glass door when they entered; a cheerful young woman looked up behind the worn wooden counter, gaze leaping between the two of them. "Good evening!" she chirped, twin braids swaying behind her shoulders. "Rooms by the hour, or by the day?"

Fai's bright grin froze; he knew what rooms by the hour implied, and to be asked that with  _Kurogane_  next to him tautened the air around them so much so his skin prickled. The ninja tensed. "Well—"

"It isn't just us," Kurogane blurted, the tips of his ears turning red. The receptionist raised her eyebrows, and he bristled. "We have a couple of kids with us. One room, for the night at least."

The door chimed again, and the other half of their group filed into the little lobby. Relief washed through his limbs; the ninja glowered at the uniformed lady.

"Well, these are our children," Fai explained easily, stepping forward with a casual wave. (Behind, Kurogane stifled a choke, and the kids remained wisely silent.) "We'd all really prefer to share a room, you see."

"That will be possible," the young woman replied, looking back down and typing into her computer. "However, there'll be an additional charge for two extra heads."

"Sure," he answered with an inward wince. "We have the cash for it."

It was the last of their dwindling funds, though, and unless they could find jobs or sell more of their trinkets (the cars had taken out a significant portion of their hoard), they would be sleeping in the vehicles or on the streets this time tomorrow. This meant that they wouldn't be able to spare the fuel for him to fly out tonight, to reabsorb his traces of magic.

Fai tried not to think about the sinking feeling in his gut.

The transaction was handled and closed soon enough, and they piled into a little room on the fifth floor of the building... After which all hell broke loose.

"We're children!" Mokona squealed, leaping from Syaoran's head to Kurogane's. "Fai and Kurogane are Mommy and Daddy and Syaoran and Sakura and Mokona are children!"

Terrible murderous intent coalesced around the ninja. For the most part, Fai thought, Kurogane's anger was something more easily swallowed than the idea of them sleeping together  _(what an appalling suggestion, really!)_ , or even the thought of his magic lingering someplace out where he couldn't reach, so he chose to exacerbate it.

"Yes, Kuro-daddy should go out and make us some money, shouldn't he?" Fai asked the too-crowded room. Kurogane rounded on him and growled, and he grinned stupidly at the larger man when the latter stepped forward. With the help of his sturdy cane, Fai leaped lightly over the twin beds in the room, towards the little table and chairs by the window while Kurogane chased him down, teeth bared and fists raised. "Daddy shouldn't be so fierce, you know!"

"Daddy is being violent to Mommy!" Mokona trilled from the top of Syaoran's head.

Kurogane snapped his glower onto the furry creature, and Syaoran gulped, backed away from his ominous stare. Fai took the chance to hobble back to the kids, narrowly avoiding a ferocious lunge. (Kuro-pon sure didn't like having tongues stuck out at him.) "Well, Daddy should really set a good example," he admonished, wagging a finger at the larger man. "The children are very impressionable, you know."

A low growl rumbled from where Kurogane was striding towards him. "Damn mage—"

"You know you shouldn't swear in front of the kids, Kuro-daddy," Fai blathered, ducking behind the children so the ninja couldn't swipe at him. "Why don't you be useful and find us something to eat?"

Kurogane seethed, and Fai dodged his violent attacks once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fai's car is a Volkswagen Beetle (as inspired by FarenMaddox's Freefall) and Kurogane gets a Mini Cooper, because I have one (with turbo), they rock, and I consider it a tiny car. ;) This also explains Fai and Kurogane's aptitude for driving in Piffle. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **This chapter is rated M** for a bit of sexual content; the rest of the fic remains a T rating

In the end, dinner was a shared meal of cold meat pie that Fai had made in the previous world. They hadn't very much by way of fresh-made food; Mokona had explained that her storage was essentially a spare room set aside in Yuuko's shop, and as such, food they stored was subject to natural phenomenons like decay.

Kurogane was mollified that at least it hadn't been something sugary sweet, like the idiot's pancakes and desserts that would sometimes make his mouth pucker.

After the events of the day (both in Nagare and the rock island world alike), the children had been relieved to take a shower and crawl into bed. Kurogane sat with his back to the wall, kept half a ear out for the mage, who had locked himself into the bathroom an hour ago.

No doubt scribbling more of those spells, like he had been doing close to the end of their stay in Nagare.

The memory of what had transpired in the lobby downstairs was still fresh. In some twisted way, he found that he didn't so much mind the notion that the princess and kid were like his children—maybe even his siblings, or cousins—what ate at him, like a scab ready to be picked, was the idea that he shared those children with that idiot. Sure, he was rubbish with kids, and sure, he didn't want full responsibility over them. But the five of them, a family?

They had been forced into several situations that required them to be close, physically and mentally and in a host of other different ways... Yet he still couldn't bring himself to trust Fai (if that was really his name, like Kurogane wasn't the name Youou was born with).

He could trust Fai to give it his all to protect the children, that much he knew now. But the man was still secretive, hiding his spells away and refusing to work his magic for any other occasion, and it really did not help that the damn mage was so aggravatingly attractive. (He'd thought one night would be plenty, but those wet lips, those fingers, that quivering stomach as he drew his knuckles down south... Kurogane hadn't had enough of it. He'd wanted to believe that he was above all that, but Fai was a different person in the cloak of darkness, sleek and hungry and desperate, an enigma that piqued his curiosity to no end.)

(And Fai refused to even acknowledge that they'd slept together.)

Kurogane rubbed his temples and attempted to sleep. Back in Nihon, between any watch about Shirasagi castle, he would have been able to fall into a light doze. Right now, however, the mage was up to something in the bathroom just mere feet away, and he couldn't rest when all he saw, whenever he attempted to close his eyes, was serious blue and thin fingers concentrating on scribbling neat runes in that battered notebook. That, and his hunger had not been entirely quenched.

He grit his teeth and pushed his head back against the thin dusty wall, narrowly surveying the slits of light which shone tauntingly from the edges of the bathroom door.

Five minutes later, he was on his feet, padding silently over to the bathroom. He knocked lightly on the door once.

There wasn't any answer, only a shuffling of papers, so he knocked again.

"Kuro-rin, if that is you, you know that you're not welcome in here," came the muffled reply.

He rapped softly on the door, regardless. Syaoran stirred in his bed.

"You aren't propositioning me, are you?" Fai asked lightly. "The children are asleep, you know, you don't want them waking up hearing  _sounds_."

Heat crept up the back of his neck (neither of them were quiet, he knew now), and he definitely was  _not thinking_  about  _that_.

"Open up," he muttered finally, "Or they're going to wake when I start yelling at you, idiot."

There was much reluctant shuffling, then a dull click of the door unlocking, before it swung open. Fai's face was plastered with that same stupid smile again. "Did Kuro-pon miss me?"

Kurogane crowded the door frame, edged the mage back in before he could attempt to escape (he was, the notebook was tucked beneath his arm and he looked just about ready to bolt) and locked the door behind them.

If the air in the bathroom was suddenly harder to breathe, it was most assuredly because of the lingering humidity from earlier showers.

"You're going to release those paper birds tonight," he guessed, glancing down at the notebook.

The smile on the blond's lips pulled tight; Fai dropped his gaze to the corner, took a ginger step backwards. "Why do you keep talking about things that don't concern you, Kuro-tan?" he breathed.

"It concerns me." Kurogane watched as the mage turned away, dark golden hair limp from being washed. His toes curled against the damp floor tiles. "If you're going to drive out there and try to kill yourself again—"

"I'm not." Blue eyes narrowed and slid towards him. (Fai's mouth, when he wasn't smiling stupidly, turned down at the corners, like he was more accustomed to sulking instead.) "Go to sleep, Kuro-pon, you need to recover from your head injury."

"I'm fine. 'Sides, you need to sleep yourself," he retorted, eyed the notebook tucked under the thin arm further away from him. His head no longer ached, hadn't been aching for hours now. "You were shaking earlier—"

"I'm fine, see?" Fai stretched thin fingers out in front of him, flipped his hands over. The tips of his fingers were bumpy and a shade paler than the rest of his palms, old scar tissue slowly fading away.

Kurogane frowned, caught a thin wrist to bring that hand closer. For all the innocence the mage tried to project, and the movements that hinted at his fighting prowess besides, these weren't ordinary battle wounds. What had he been through to sustain an injury like that? To have the tips of all his fingers mutilated and bleeding?

Fai snatched his hand back, pressed insistently towards the bathtub in an attempt to squeeze past. "I'm not sleeping," he said firmly. "Let me out."

"You aren't going to be of any use to the kids if you're exhausted tomorrow," he said dryly. "And I don't want to have to pick up your slack."

The fake smile was back, blinding and hateful in its intensity. "But Kuro-pon is so strong! Surely you'll be able to help Sakura-chan if I can't, right?"

Kurogane bristled and grabbed the blond by his arm, yanking him close to snarl in his face, "You aren't fooling me, wizard. I'm sick of your stupid smiles."

The other man stepped back, still wearing the grin like a shield. "Well, then, maybe you should stop talking about things that aren't your business."

"I haven't forgotten about those birds yet," he growled. (Damn it, how did the idiot throw him on such a loop?)

At that, Fai's mask cracked the slightest bit; his smile faltered. "They don't concern you," he insisted.

Kurogane looked between the notebook and the wizard's face, and made his decision. "I know you're drawing more of those spells," he pointed out. "You don't have to hide them from me."

The facade slipped completely. Fai blinked in shock. Fear flickered through his gaze, mingled with hesitation, and his pink tongue darted over his lips. "W-well, Kuro-tan, I know curiosity is a virtue—"

"I can help," he muttered. He hadn't quite meant to; the words had just slipped from his grasp. Blue eyes grew wide.

"What?" the mage gasped, looking between him and the door in bewilderment. He tried to tug his arm free. "Did you hit your head too hard? Who are you and why did you kidnap Kuro-puu?"

An impatient snarl burst through his throat. Kurogane tightened his fingers on that skinny arm, entertained the thought of shaking the twit back to his senses. "You're such an idiot, mage. No one kidnapped me."

Fai stared at him. "You really need to go back to sleep," he said flatly. "You're out of your mind."

"I'm not," Kurogane retorted, stepping across cool, smooth tile to close the distance between himself and the blond. "You shouldn't have to do this alone."

"What— Why?" the blond demanded, his voice a little lower, a little raspier. His eyebrows drew down with suspicion; he stepped back, tugged his arm free of Kurogane's grasp. Winced when he put pressure on his sprained ankle. "Why do you even care, Kuro-chi?"

"You're—"  _You're a good man,_  he wanted to say.  _You try so hard to distance yourself from us,_  he wanted to say,  _but you care so much for the kids that you're willing to risk your past catching up with you in order to protect them, you who is scared and who doesn't know what to do with himself._  That same knot of feeling was back in his chest; it was tight and warm and looking into lucid sapphire did not help in the least. "You're a good person," Kurogane finished lamely.

Fai turned away and laughed—it was a hollow sound. "You should just concern yourself with the kids, Kuro-sama. I'm just your average street magician and—"

"You're worth something," he snapped, grabbed hold of thin shoulders to shake them. Was Fai being serious? Did he think so little of himself? He did, didn't he, if he was so willing to let his life be taken away.

The blond wobbled and grimaced (his ankle was bandaged, if still sprained; he wasn't holding his cane), and he flailed to find some sort of purchase to steady himself with. The notebook fell to the floor with a wet  _slap_. "I'm not—"

"You're an idiot," Kurogane muttered, shifted his grasp to steady the twit by his arms. He shook the man then, roughly. "You're a fucking idiot."

"That doesn't explain anything," Fai protested weakly, staring at him in bewilderment. He gulped, glanced down at the notebook, fingers twitching towards it.

Kurogane sighed. He released the wizard, crouched down to pick the notebook up, and shoved it back into Fai's hands. "Take it. Let's go."

Pale lips parted in an 'o'. "What?"

"The birds. You need to release them, don't you?" He turned to leave. "I don't believe in running away," he clarified, even though Fai didn't ask for it, "But I'm not going to watch you run and hurt yourself in the process."

"I can take care of myself," the blond said indignantly, sharp eyes flashing.

Kurogane scoffed. He glanced at the ankle that Fai was still not putting any weight on. "Prove it, then."

The mage clenched his jaw; he looked away, clutched the notebook to himself. "Not tonight."

He blinked in surprise.

"I'm not done with— with the birds yet," Fai mumbled edgily. "And we don't have money for more fuel."

"Can't you just release them from here?" Kurogane questioned with a frown. Papery, stubby birds came to mind, flying with a will on their own into the night sky. Fai pressed his lips together, looked away. A low rumble of exasperation reverberated in Kurogane's chest. "You have magic enough to do that. I've seen you."

The blond winced at that—clearly the rooftop fight in Nagare was something he'd rather forget. But Kurogane couldn't, not when he'd seen the man throw up defensive barriers for the sake of the children, not when Fai had single-handedly stopped his car from plummeting to the earth below. Surely making some little birds fly some miles was within his capabilities.

"It's not that simple," the idiot said on an exhale. "You don't understand, Kuro-rin."

"Then explain it to me." He folded his arms across the chest, leaned back into the bathroom door. Three feet away, Fai reached backwards, found the sink with his fingers and eased back against it. That ankle was hurting him the longer he stood on it, Kurogane could tell.

"It's not like I know what I'm doing," was the reply. It was a lie, and as if it was a lifeline, the confidence in the mage's features grew the larger he spun it. "All I'm doing is guesswork, you know. They'll just get blown away if I release them from here—"

"Bullshit. If you think you're lying convincingly, you're dead wrong," Kurogane snapped, annoyed once more. He rolled his weight onto the balls of his feet, stalked over to the willowy man. "Try again."

Fai stared at him, open-mouthed, swallowing. "But—"

"No excuses," he breathed, pressing so close there were mere inches between them.

The blond didn't look up at him, however. He turned his head away, muttered, "If you don't want lies, Kuro-tan, then you shouldn't ask questions."

Impatience was an ugly, hissing thing in his chest. Kurogane clenched his fists, glowered down at clumped locks of dark flaxen hair. "Just how bad is this thing coming after you, that you have to keep erasing your trails and glancing behind yourself?"

Because that was what Fai had to have been doing, capturing those cinnamon-scented footprints when he thought no one was looking. It hadn't started until he used magic in Nagare. And if he was so powerful, to be able to transport himself between dimensions, then what was he running from, to be able to terrorize him so?

The wizard shivered violently, if involuntarily. "Don't," he whispered, "Don't ask."

Another memory surfaced, traced with the bite of liquor but no less crucial for it,  _Would you kill someone you love if they asked you to?_  (Hazily, spoken with wet lips that later kissed down his throat and breathed hot against his clavicle.)

His first instinct was to make that connection, that Fai feared something from his past. Whether it was someone he loved, or the punishment for killing someone important to him in the world he came from. Or maybe that had nothing to do with why he was running away at all, even if Fai had loved someone who begged for death.

His second instinct was a buzzing jealousy, that slithered through his gut and taunted him. But this man wasn't his. Fai was a liar and probably sat on a mile-high mountain of secrets, and he was not to be trusted. This man would never be his. (If that thought burned, then Kurogane wasn't acknowledging it.)

"Whatever," he said eventually. He was strong enough to face anything he came across (looked for a challenge, even), so it didn't matter if it was some frightening entity that had the mage running scared. (It didn't mean he wasn't curious, however.) "It doesn't concern me."

Fai's shoulders sagged in relief.

"But you aren't staying in here all night," Kurogane repeated. "I'm not having you become another liability due to fatigue."

"And here I thought Kuro-sama cared about me." This was spoken with a pout; Fai glanced up through thick golden lashes, moist lower lip pushing forward. "All he wants is less responsibility over the kids."

Kurogane rolled his eyes and turned away with a disgruntled snort. "Have you considered that they might need to use this place?"

Fai followed the direction of his nod, towards the toilet. "Hyuu, Kuro-rin is so sensitive to the children's needs!" he exclaimed softly, almost in wonderment. "Just like a good daddy!"

Banked anger rekindled in his ribs; he drew a deep breath and glowered. "One more word, mage—"

"Kuro-daddy is kind and strong," Fai crowed, and this time, there was a gleam in his eyes, a playful edge to his smile. "Exactly how I like my men—"

Whether the idiot meant anything by the taunt, Kurogane wasn't sure. But in the next moment, Fai had launched himself at him, long, limber arms coming up to wind around his neck. It was more surprise than the negligible weight of the blond that drove him backwards, back thumping heavily against the bathroom door. "What—"

"Kuro," was a whisper against his ear, hot breath tickling his skin. The lights flickered off.

He should react as though this was an attack, really, but there was no threat in this, not when luminous blue eyes watched him, half-lidded, and he could see the blond just as clearly anyway, feel his warmth soaking through their clothes.

Chapped lips brushed his jaw; slender fingers carded through his hair. Fai pressed himself flush to his torso, eager and inviting, one foot creeping up along the outside of Kurogane's calf.

The discussion on magic and spells hadn't been forgotten (no way would he cast that aside), but if the idiot would rather focus on this than his desperate fleeing, well. Kurogane wasn't complaining.

They moved with greater ease, more familiarity this time, sinking into a hungry, searing kiss that lit fire in his veins, sent blood thumping through his body. Right now, it didn't matter that this was going to be yet another memory that the mage forcibly forgot (he started this, didn't he?) not when he was all lips and teeth and tongue, hands trailing down bare arms, hitching clothing up, fingers splaying across his back, dipping south to grab his rear and squeeze—

He curled his fingers through wispy-fine hair, sent his other hand down to bring the mage up and against him, grinding their hips together in a way that dragged groans from their throats.

Fai rocked into him; he growled, gripped the man by his narrow waist and turned them around, pinned him into the wall, hissing when the smaller man slipped a hand down the front of his pants.

His breath left him in a rush. He thrust into searching fingers, cursed into that hot, wet mouth that he wanted further down.

The doorknob jiggled just as clever fingers dragged over sensitive flesh and he moaned.

"Kurogane-san?" Syaoran's muffled tone cut through the butter-thick air, sluicing onto them like buckets of icy water. "Are you hurt?"

He grew very still, hyperaware of his breath heaving through his chest. In front of him, Fai had tensed in much the same way, snatching his hand out of his clothes, his own breathing unsteady. Kurogane bit back the string of profanities that clamored on his tongue. "I'm fine," he growled, voice a little huskier than the kid needed to hear. "Go back to bed."

"I, um, okay." An audible swallow. "I just— I just thought I heard something, that's all. Good night."

The silence that fell in the darkness was highly uncomfortable, punctuated by uneven breathing. Having Syaoran bring reality back upon them like this, it was... It struck a nerve, this not-relationship he had with Fai, that Fai tried so hard to not acknowledge.

"Mage," he said roughly.

"Nothing," Fai gasped, his voice unsteady, "Nothing happened."

That blond head was ducked down so Kurogane couldn't read his expression. Fai half-stumbled, half-limped to the door, wrenched it open, and escaped.

A growl began low in his chest; he grit his teeth and swept his gaze through the bathroom. Being discarded wasn't a pleasant feeling—it was humiliating, hurtful, and he wanted to hit something, barely restraining himself because  _We don't have money to pay for damages, Kuro-chan,_  rang in his head.

Kurogane tugged roughly at his clothes to straighten them, annoyed at the traitorous throb of heat that still remained in his groin. Damn idiot. Damn kid.

The notebook lay forgotten on the floor by the sink. Kurogane clicked his tongue, crouched to pick it up. It figured that he was still cleaning up after the damn moron. There wasn't any point in wondering what he'd done in his past life to deserve this, so he didn't, instead pulling the bathroom door open and stepping out.

Fai was curled into an armchair in the corner of the room, fidgeting. He stiffened when Kurogane's stare lit on him, tension building in the slope of his shoulders as he approached. Still afraid, even now.

Kurogane didn't breathe a word, merely dropped the damp-covered book onto the edge of the armchair and retreated to his own station by the hotel room door.

He didn't sleep well that night, and he knew for a fact that Fai didn't, either.

* * *

It was painfully awkward the next morning.

Fai hardly looked at Kurogane at all. In the dim half-light of dawn, he crept to the bathroom, washed his face, and retreated to the window, kneeling on the floor and ducking his head and shoulders under thick, dusty curtains so he could continue to work on his spells. The covers of the notebook had dried into warped wrinkles; the pages crinkled noisily when he spread them open on the windowsill, and he could feel the touch of a crimson gaze on his back.

He winced to himself. None of that was supposed to have happened last night. Why did Kurogane have to start talking about things that didn't concern him? Why did he have to do it in the privacy of the bathroom? Why was Fai himself so weak-willed that he couldn't resist the larger man's allure?

It took some effort to wrench his thoughts back to the runes, to painstakingly press ink-stained metal into paper and carve familiar glyphs along the edges of the page. (He hadn't slept at all, thoughts swinging between dead blue eyes and Kurogane like a damning pendulum.) Once he'd focused, though, it was easy to fall into the rhythm of the pen strokes, the runes coming faster now that he'd had practice replicating the spell. The sheer magnitude of the area his magic was spread over was daunting - he would need fifty, or maybe even a hundred paper birds to absorb them all.

How long until Ashura-ou sensed his magic?

The thought jerked his pen nib across the notebook; Fai swore under his breath. The spell was ruined, and he'd have to start over on a new page. For a brief second, he squeezed his eyes shut. Why was it that his orders had to clash? That he had to resort to magic was because he was under orders to protect (not because he loved) the princess. Then there was Ashura-ou, who would track him by his magic to force a killing blow out of Fai. But Fai couldn't kill him.

He swallowed a mouthful of guilt, flipped the page. There were still eighty or so absorption spells he'd need, probably. How did Kurogane even think he'd be able to help?

Fai drew the runes for another spell, then another, and another, until the sun shone bright in his face and on his notebook, and the sleepy city outside the window began filling with flying cars and life. Now that the pink glow of sunrise had faded, the signs and posters around the city were vivid, competing for attention. From his vantage point, he could see all sorts of buildings—from low eateries to tall residential tower blocks and offices, and even a garden tucked away behind some skyscrapers.

"Morning!" Mokona trilled behind him. "Syaoran is already awake! And Kuro-rin! And... Why is Fai behind the curtain?"

He flipped the notebook shut in a hurry, set his pen down and propped his chin in his hands, so by the time the little fuzzy creature bounded up to him and climbed up the side of his shirt, he was merely staring out into the bustling city, making a show of lifting the curtain off himself. "Morning, Mokona, Syaoran-kun! I was admiring the city, see? Isn't it beautiful?"

Kurogane snorted some paces back. Fai winced, pushed himself onto his feet—his ankle still hurt.

Light gushed across the room when he drew the curtains proper; Kurogane and Syaoran both averted their faces from the glare, and Sakura remained fast asleep in bed.

"The feather is in this city, isn't it?" Fai asked the creature perched on his shoulder. Syaoran was looking curiously at him, and Kurogane was— Well, he didn't want to think about the ninja.

Mokona nodded, tiny face screwed up in concentration. "It's very close, somewhere on this island."

"So we'll grab a bite and get down to it," Kurogane deduced. He stood and stretched, joints popping. "Kid, wake the princess up, will you?"

"Always so practical, Kuro-tan!" Fai sang. The banter was part of their morning ritual; he couldn't avoid it even though he wanted to and had all but forced it from his throat—the children would have noticed something suspicious otherwise. But he was most certainly not looking at the taller man.

Kurogane made a rude noise, turned his back on him.

"Kuro-rin needs a hug! He's so grumpy!" Mokona declared, and Fai managed a chuckle when the puff ball leaped across the room and affixed itself on the back of Kurogane's head, earning herself an indignant splutter.

Despite all that was wrong between them, Fai couldn't help but smile.

Syaoran's stare bounced from him to Kurogane, then the bathroom, and he flushed a bright red. Fai pretended not to notice. While none of the others was looking, he tucked the notebook discreetly beneath his arm, then bent to grab his walking stick, waving it towards the door.

"Well, I'll head on downstairs to check on the breakfast," he said cheerily. "Fai-mommy needs to make sure the food is good and nutritious for the kids."

With a fond glance at the sleeping princess, Fai hobbled quickly towards the exit.

Kurogane hadn't spoken, hadn't moved, but he could feel those hot red eyes latch onto him the moment he reached the edge of the man's peripheral vision. He gulped, stared fixedly forward, and turned at the door to wave at Syaoran. "Don't be long, everyone!"

As he pulled the door shut, there was no mistaking the low mutter of "Idiot," behind, and his stomach gave a slippery little flop.

* * *

By the time the rest of his travelling group had trooped into the dining room and woven through the breakfast crowd, Fai had finished another three spells, tucked his notebook out of sight, and was in the middle of buttering flat round buns and little muffins from the teetering stack sitting in front of him. It was a corner table, one of those that would allow him to watch every exit so he wouldn't be surprised by the kids (and Kurogane) showing up in the middle of him scribbling runes on paper.

"Morning, Fai-san!" Sakura called, hurrying over with a wide grin the moment she spotted him. "Syaoran-kun said you'd left ahead of us, I'm so sorry I made you wait!"

He smiled up at her, surprised. She was apologizing to him? He'd neglected to check the fuel readings on the car yesterday, placing them both in danger, and yet here she was, apologizing. To  _him_. Fai swallowed dryly; his chest ached.

"Morning, Sakura-chan! It's no big deal," he said in a controlled, easy voice, and if the smile he flashed was a little shaky, it was definitely not because it meant anything. "I've got some bread and muffins here, but you might want to look at the rest of the food—it's a buffet."

The concept of a buffet was familiar to all of them, including Syaoran, even if he had not grown up in the luxuries of a palace. Sakura turned to cast a curious eye over the little spread of breakfast food, while Kurogane had gone ahead, and Syaoran hovered nearby (with Mokona on his head), torn between waiting for his princess and examining the types of sustenance this world considered breakfast.

To Fai's surprise, she waved the boy ahead with a beam. "Don't wait for me, Syaoran-kun, I'll be there in a minute!"

"Sakura-chan?" he questioned, watched as Syaoran gave her a hesitant smile and turned towards the long, if undecorated, table on one side of the dining room. (There were tea and coffee pots to one side, jugs of juice and milk, and on the other side of the table lay large baskets of buns and muffins, some gas fire-heated trays of sausage and omelette. Jams and butter came in sealed little plastic tubs, and there was even a waffle machine in the whole ensemble.)

She took a seat across from him, green eyes bright and alert, features soft with shyness. "I wanted to thank you, Fai-san—I didn't get a chance to when we were in Nagare, but I wanted you to know that I really appreciate you and Kurogane-san taking the trouble to make those bleeding cloths for me."

He blinked at her. It seemed so long ago that they were shopping in the market square and sitting around a table sewing buttons into cotton. "How do you like them?" he asked with a smile, anxiously. "I've never made them before, so—"

"They remind me of home," she told him with a brighter smile, and his chest hurt all the more for it.

"You don't have to thank me," he answered lightly. (Just seeing her smile was enough.) "I just thought I'd help."

"But Yukito-san said I have to thank those who have tried to help," she countered, her gaze faraway. Her face fell then, and he looked on in concern. "It's just that I haven't been able to help much on this journey, and it's always you or Syaoran-kun or Kurogane-san who end up getting hurt because of me."

"Don't say that," he blurted, setting his butter knife and muffin down to hold her hands across the rectangular table. "Sakura-chan, we—"

"We help because we want to," Kurogane interrupted gruffly. He set his plate down (Fai had barely a moment to tense) before dropping into the seat next to Fai.

A warm, solid thigh bumped into his; he felt his insides clench up. Why would Kurogane sit next to him—

Syaoran headed towards them then, Mokona on his shoulder and his wiry form visible from over the seated guests, and Fai drew a breath in understanding.  _Oh._  Kurogane had left the other chair so the boy could sit with his princess.

"Thank you too, Kurogane-san," Sakura said sweetly. "I'm so grateful that you made a bleeding cloth for me."

From the corner of his eye, Fai saw shades of red creep up the ninja's neck. (For a warrior of his disposition, the man sure blushed more than one would expect. It was endearing, Fai dreaded to realize.) Kurogane made a noncommittal noise. "Yeah. well."

Syaoran came to sit by Sakura, plate full of food, though he looked over in barely-masked concern that Sakura hadn't any breakfast in front of her.

"Come on," Fai said uneasily, only too keen on fleeing the attention that he just knew was on him. (Would Kurogane ever stop watching him with those too-sharp eyes? Would he, himself, stop being so susceptible to this attraction that hung between them?) "Let's get some breakfast, Sakura-chan!"

* * *

(None of them, Fai noted, opposed the way he wrapped the buttered buns and muffins in paper napkins later on and stashed them in Mokona's gaping mouth, with a promise that the creature would get an extra treat for her efforts.

It especially felt like a shared secret, when even Syaoran and Sakura contributed their own wrapped packages to the stash. Kurogane grumbled. He wasn't looking at the rest of them when he, too, added a handful of pears to the collection.)


	3. Chapter 3

They set off soon after breakfast, Fai and Sakura in his powder-blue, stretched-semicircle car, and Kurogane and Syaoran in the bulbous-nosed black racing thing (which rumbled so low when its ignition started that Fai confided it sounded exactly like Kuro-puu's growling. Sakura stifled a giggle; Kurogane cut a suspicious look towards them, and they snickered when he found no basis for accusation, muttering and looking away).

(Even without doing anything, Kurogane could make the princess smile so wide. Fai didn't think the ninja had his own list of secret talents.)

"Music?" he asked, hovered a finger over the radio button.

"Music!" Mokona cheered. The creature bounced between their shoulders. "Singing is something Mokona does best!"

Sakura beamed at him. "Yes, please!"

Drawling country music seeped into every crevice of the car—it had shut down tuned to that particular station—and like before, they hummed along to the songs until they caught on to the catchy choruses, singing noisily with the windows rolled down. It was even better than meowing while (pretending to be) drunk, Fai thought.

A quick look into the rear view mirror showed Kurogane frowning and Syaoran's face lit with adoration. Fai chose not to mention that to the princess, instead goading her on to sing louder as Mokona pointed out the direction they were to head in.

" _He don't know what I'm feeling,_ " Sakura warbled, swaying in her seat, enjoyment alight in her eyes. " _Darling can't you see I love you so._ "

The sounds traveled well enough between their vehicles, it seemed, because Syaoran's face was now burning a bright red.

" _He don't know what I'm thinking,_ " Fai joined in. " _Darling come follow me to paradise._ "

" _I'll soothe your sorrows,_ " the princess sang, Mokona echoing in a canon.

" _I'll treat you like the king you're s'posed to be,_ " Fai continued, sharing a grin with her.

It was cheesy, embarrassing, but he figured that since he was pretending to be so many other things, he could pretend to be having fun too. Except that this really was a lot of fun.

"Oi! Shut up and drive!" Kurogane shouted from behind, thumping a big palm on his black-painted door.

"Kuro-rin doesn't know how to have fun!" Fai called back, too drunk on glee to really care. "Let's show them, Sakura-chan!"

She grinned, and they yowled in the car like cats, singing so loud that their throats were hoarse by the time Mokona instructed them to land on the roof level of the multi-story parking lot attached to a tall, glittering, colorful building, with banners all over declaring, "Welcome to The Mall!"

"Idiot," the ninja groused from the car parked beside theirs.

"Wouldn't you like to be in paradise?" Fai shot back at him with an easy smile, relaxed enough that he could meet Kurogane's eyes again. "Or is Kuro-pon so grumpy because he doesn't know what paradise is?"

All he received for an answer was a snort. Fai grinned, locked his car, and wandered over to where Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona had their necks craned up at the towering building before them. Above, other cars flew by, like large bugs in an orchestrated dance.

"The feather is somewhere in the middle," Mokona proclaimed, pointing a stubby paw towards gleaming, reflective glass. "Mokona feels it clearly."

"Let's go, then," Kurogane grumbled. "What're we waiting for?"

The journey into the building wasn't much to speak of; no angry townsfolk came charging at them with pitchforks, no incensed wizard tried to set tornadoes upon them to impede their progress. They made their way along rows of parked cars to the palm-lined boulevard joining the parking lot roof to the mall, where shoppers streamed in and out of a set of huge glass doors.

Inside, brightly-lit storefronts lined the warm yellow walkways; mannequins posed in various tasteful outfits, pictures of giant watches were plastered across glass, and blue-white jewelry glittered from little windows.

"It reminds me of Hanshin Republic," Syaoran mused, eyes wide as he tried to catalog the things he was seeing. "There were malls like this there, but I wonder how different they are—over here, the people must pay a lot of attention to clothing..."

The large, open storefronts gave way to smaller shops and posh cafes the further up they went. Fai glanced around with wonder as they rode black moving stairs from floor to floor (escalators, they were called) up through the center hollow well of the building. There was little magic in this place, yet the people here had the access to technology to create behemoths of buildings and stairs that brought them upwards without any effort on their part. Shoppers flowed in and out of stores, carrying bags and babies and the occasional boxed electrical appliance.

For all the wealthiness the mall seemed to ooze, the maze of shops that were tucked away behind the gleaming facades facing the center well were a little less glamorous. Here, the corridors were a little more narrow, the floor tiles less glossy, and the lighting a cool shade of ice, rather than warm honey. Clothing shops were crammed with racks, unlike the open displays on the first floor, and accessory shops blared a cacophony of prerecorded tones and flashed blues, greens and pinks on repeat through clear crystal figurines.

Mokona led them to what appeared to be a lingerie shop at first glance. It was all the way at the end of a corridor and closed in with glass walls, like those the mall prided itself on down below. This store, however, had mannequins out front, dressed in sheer, lacy underwear that made both Sakura and Syaoran falter and stammer, their faces ablaze.

"Hyuu, what pretty clothes," Fai commented, sweeping his gaze past the display to the shop beyond. Rows of clothes hung from racks, though the feather was not in sight. "It's here, Mokona?"

The furry creature nodded, and hopped from Syaoran's head onto Fai's shoulder. "Mokona thinks it's in this shop."

"No point standing out here," Kurogane said, stepping forward.

Fai followed him into the store, all senses on alert for any threats. The children trailed behind, door swinging shut, and Syaoran adopted a determined look about his face, looking at anything but lacy feminine underwear.

"Welcome," called a lanky, familiar man from behind the cashier's counter, long, grey-brown hair swept back from his face. (Goggles were pushed back on his head; they didn't have to look at his badge to know his name was Shougo.) "Welcome to Primera's Intimates."

"It's certainly a beautiful store," Fai volunteered, when Syaoran seemed too embarrassed to speak, and none of the rest knew what to say. He cast his gaze around—there were more scantily-clad mannequins (these were torso-only) standing on tables laid out with stacks of frilly underpants, and racks full of negligees, bras, corsets, and various other undergarments lined either side of the store. On closer observation, this shop was shallower than its neighbors looked; Fai found his attention drifting to the dark curtain that hung next to the counter—was there another room behind?

"It's behind that wall," Mokona said quietly from her perch on his shoulder. Fai sensed as much.

"I see you're not here for the standard fare." Shougo smirked, almost smug, and sauntered out from behind the counter, heading over to the curtain.

"You'd be right about that," Fai answered, stretching the smile he'd walked in with. "We're here for... something very specific."

Syaoran made to step forward; the shop assistant held a hand up. "Sorry, kid, this room is only for people above eighteen."

_Ah._

"Stay here with Syaoran-kun and Sakura-chan, Mokona," Fai said quietly to their furred companion. She nodded; he handed her over to the boy, who was still gaping in horror at Shougo. "Kuro-pon and I will go in."

"This better be good," Kurogane muttered. His fingers twitched.

"Why? Is Kuro-daddy afraid of things for big men?" he taunted in return, grinned as he skipped forward to avoid a crimson glower.

Kurogane clicked his tongue; Shougo fiddled with a clasp on the curtain, and pulled it back to reveal a narrow corridor plastered with magazines of half-naked women. Past the low entryway and the shop assistant, the light was a deep, sultry pink.

Fai couldn't say he was surprised. He dipped his head to clear the low, plain lintel, feeling all eyes on his back as he moved further into the room, Kurogane following close behind.

He paused at the threshold of the adults-only room, stared in shock.

A pause later, the ninja muttered an expletive. "What the hell is this?"

What the children couldn't see (and for good reason), was a startling array of the most obscene objects Fai had ever come across. In a corner, there was a wall with shelves full of colorful phallic objects, from glass to metal to colorful rubber. On an adjacent wall hung plastic boxes of replicas of a certain part of the male anatomy, in various sizes and shapes and all possessing fine, veined detail. There were racks of little novelty toys, ropes, handcuffs, thick dark cylinders and fake breasts and boxes that screamed "pleasure" and "hair-raising times", and costumes and erotic books and even leather whips.

Fai swallowed dryly; warmth prickled up his neck. This wasn't exactly a place he wanted to be visiting with  _Kurogane_. Especially not with the larger man standing so close behind him.

"If you're interested in things for couples," Shougo said from the doorway, "They're on your right, just behind the wall."

All the tension from the previous night, that had eased away through the morning, came slamming back between them in full force. He could feel Kurogane's eyes drilling holes through the back of his head, could remember the heavy grip of large fingers in the darkness  _(no no no)_  and the lung-clenching horror that he'd done such... unspeakable things with someone he was not supposed to get involved with at all—

Fai jerked himself out of his thoughts, stepped further into the room to better look for Sakura's feather. He'd sensed it right above himself walking into this place. "Well, that's not how it is," he said lightly over his shoulder, turned to glance at the wall that apparently contained things for couples.

_There!_

It was in a little box on the shelf edging the walkway he'd just stepped out of, stacked with a handful of other boxes that contained glowing feathers of different sizes and colors. They hadn't seen it before because it was right above their heads, and in his momentary excitement, he brought his gaze down to meet Kurogane's.

Fierce red eyes held his across a distance of mere feet, in a room that throbbed with the potential of sex, and Fai felt an answering frisson of heat sizzle down his spine.

He worked his throat, trying to speak, only managing to long seconds after he'd scraped his nerves back together, yanked his stare away from Kurogane (whose face was distinctly pink). It figured that he was unlucky enough to land in this mess. He forced his mouth into a huge grin. Kurogane narrowed his eyes, still simmering with promise.

"If you need any help with our products," Shougo offered with every bit of cunning, "Just say the word, and I'll be right there."

Fai thought he might very much like to kill someone right now.

"The— The feather," he croaked, and repeated himself with his voice raised. "I don't see a price on this feather here," he tried to chirp, though the words came out sounding strangely mangled. "Do you know how much it costs, by any chance?"

The sales assistant pushed his way forward, through the narrow passageway and past the ninja, coming to stand beside Fai. "Ah, those." He paused here, angled a sly smile at Fai. "Those come with a minimum purchase in this restricted section."

He had expected that the feather wouldn't come easy, so Fai managed a smile at him, pointing towards the only one they had their eye on. Kurogane stepped away from the wall and turned to follow his gaze. "We'd like the white one, the one with the dark red markings."

Shougo gave a low whistle. " _That_  one. Our most expensive. Minimum purchase is six thousand minbi, and then it comes free."

Fai hid his wince (the cars had cost five thousand in total—they would probably sell for less in the city) and smiled anyway. "Will five thousand be enough?"

"No." The shop assistant gave him a flat look. "Six grand, or you can have the blue feather with the white markings for five."

"Well." Fai exchanged a look with Kurogane (this time it was more business than personal) and decided, "Could you hold the white feather for us while we get our funds together?"

Shougo pursed his lips in consideration, rubbed his chin. "I'm not the boss of this place," he began slowly, looking between Kurogane and Fai, "But since I like you guys, I'll hold it for you for two weeks. I'll need a deposit though. Just to make sure that you're coming back."

Fai brightened. "I'll consult with the children on that. We should be responsible parents, you know."

Both Kurogane and the shop assistant snorted; Fai hobbled past them (being very careful not to touch the ninja in the process).

A quick discussion later, they left two pieces of jewelry and a lump of ore at the shop, and walked away with a written acknowledgement of the feather reservation.

"I hope they're trustworthy," Kurogane groused as they headed back towards the escalators. He had returned to glancing occasionally at Fai, and Fai stubbornly refused to think about what that meant.

"We met him in Hanshin Republic," Syaoran pointed out, "He was a good man there."

"He's selling fucking se— fucking  _things_  here," the ninja bristled; another surge of red threatened to douse his face. Both kids flushed.

"Don't talk about things like that, Kuro-daddy," Fai lilted, standing a step away from the larger man on the escalator. Sakura was on the same level as him and peering down the hollow well of the mall, both hands clutching at the shiny black railing, that moved at the same speed as they did. "Careful now, Sakura-chan!"

"I won't fall," she promised with a bright smile.

"I'm not a daddy!" Kurogane snapped at the same time, glaring over his shoulder.

"But you're old enough to look at naughty things," Fai countered with a sharp grin. He regretted it immediately, because it reminded him of other things that were far too adult _(don't go there)_ , and that was something he didn't need to think about. Syaoran made a little strangled sound.

Kurogane's thoughts could have drifted the same direction, because he was sputtering and ruddy to his hairline. "I'm not some—"

"Anyway," Fai interrupted, before things could get any more awkward between the four of them, "We'll need to find work. It's very unlikely that we'll be able to earn the full sum in two weeks, so we'll see how much the cars sell for here, and earn the remainder."

"I want to be a mechanic!" Sakura said suddenly, looking up. Her eyes were dancing with excitement, and she was grinning wide. "If I learn more about cars, then we won't run into the same trouble again!"

"But—" Syaoran protested, "Sakura-hime, you're a princess!"

"Doesn't that mean I can do what I want?" she asked sweetly, clasped her hands before her chest. "I want to help contribute to our journey."

"But being a mechanic isn't an easy job," the boy pointed out, his young brow creased in worry. "Please reconsider, princess!"

"Let the princess do what she wants," Kurogane said, with no room in his tone for argument. "If you're so concerned about her, work the same job."

Syaoran's hazel eyes grew wide with understanding, and Fai smiled to see how Kurogane's logic filtered so easily through the boy. "Yes, Kurogane-san."

"What about you?" Kurogane turned to look at Fai from the corner of his vision.

Fai shrugged, pulled the usual inane grin onto his face and waved his hand about. "Oh, I don't know, I'll look for something that isn't too difficult, you know. Maybe work at a cafe again."

The ninja huffed in irritation, turned away. "Fine, whatever."

He continued to smile, patted Kurogane lightly on the shoulder. "Big Doggy is going to do his best for us, isn't he?" he asked, saccharine sweet. "He works so hard to feed his family!"

Before the other man could growl, Sakura gave a little gasp, pointing to the space far below. "Look!"

There came the sound of water, fat dollops splashing on a hard surface in quick succession. A pause, then the splashes beat again in a different rhythm. Curiosity ate away at Fai's reluctance to look down (because this place reminded him too much of a hollow tower), and when even Kurogane looked over the moving railings, he curled his fingers warily around them, peering over the edge.

Neat square tables and chairs surrounded a round, black-tiled fountain several stories down on the ground floor, crowded with people and plates and food. Colored lights shone along the inner edge of the fountain, and water ebbed towards them, seconds before large shimmering projectiles of the same water shot upwards from holes in the flat center platform to different heights, hovered in the air for a full second, and plummeted back down to create a cadence of sharp pattering that echoed through the escalator well.

What caught Fai's attention, though, was a white grand piano off to the side of the fountain, that sat still and empty and quiet. A piano like that had stood silent in the Cat's Eye Cafe in Outo—he had not been able to resist putting down money for it, only to regret the purchase when it had called to him so. (But Sakura and Syaoran and Kurogane had always been around, and he hadn't wanted to disclose his affinity for music, not when it was related so closely to his magic.)

If he could play the piano again—  _No._

Fai pulled away from the escalator railing, turning back to watch his companions as they admired the peace in this world. It was nice when they didn't have to fight for the feather. He wanted to savor this.

* * *

Two hours later, they had arrived at the highest offer on both cars—four thousand minbi. The sum was lower than they'd anticipated; it meant that all of them had to work, starting as soon as they possibly could. (Failing that, they could always resort to stealing. Kurogane mentioned it briefly; Sakura had looked crestfallen at the suggestion, and Fai firmly told her that they wouldn't do such a thing.)

(Kurogane had looked at him and all but called him on his lies.)

As it was, the children had found themselves jobs at a vehicle repair shop, like Sakura wanted. It seemed that Sakura's lucky streak came in all forms—in this world, they had encountered Touya and Yukito working in one of the first workshops they scouted. There had only been an opening for one assistant, though Yukito had convinced Touya that they were in desperate need of two helpers. (Or so Syaoran recounted.)

"So I'll see you here in a few hours, Kuro-tan!" Fai called cheerfully, waving from his window. "Don't get too lost without me!"

"As if I'll get lost," the larger man snarled. He started his car engine (which growled in all resemblance to a dog), raised the vehicle a few feet into the air.

Fai cast a last look at Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona—the three were being shown around the cluttered repair shop by a smiling Yukito—and turned the key in his ignition. They would be safe with Touya and Yukito. Of that, he was sure.

Kurogane was still hovering a few feet above him. Fai blinked in surprise, guided his car up to the ninja's level. "Afraid you'll miss me?" he angled slyly, fluttered his lashes.

The other man choked. "Hell no! I'm just making sure you aren't slacking off, is all."

"Me?" He pointed innocently at himself, widened his eyes in the most innocent of expressions. "Come on, Kuro-puu, you know me."

"I know enough to make sure you find a job," Kurogane groused, brows drawn low on his forehead. "Else you'll just sit around while I work my ass off."

Fai laughed. "Why would I do that?"

Before Kurogane could answer, he stepped on the gas pedal and sped off.

In all honesty, he hadn't meant for it to turn into a game of chase. But as he began to increase his speed, and as Kurogane doggedly followed him past sharp turns and over billboards, all the while avoiding collisions with other flying cars and somehow still managing to keep up, Fai realized that the man was a natural at manipulating his vehicle. (It didn't make him any less attractive.)

So he steered them further upwards, to the tops of buildings where there were fewer cars zooming around, and made faces at the man he would one day need to see as his enemy.

Kurogane continued his pursuit.

He was enjoying it, in fact, by the smirk Fai caught in his rear view mirror. It was a confident smirk, almost lazy, one that made his stomach squeeze tight, and he felt the inexplicable urge to preen, if just a little.

He did a vertical loop in the air; Kurogane followed. He circled the gleaming, rod-like spires of skyscrapers, drawing so close he could touch smooth metal, and laughed when the ninja did the same. He swooped, plunged down in between buildings, Kurogane hot on his tail—

Sirens wailed, flashing red and yellow; he exchanged a look with the other man through his mirror. They'd had enough experience with authority to know when they'd crossed a line mucking around. And this was one of those times.

Kurogane jerked his chin due west; Fai grinned, and they split.

Fai's experience with dodging authority had largely been in the heavily-guarded palace of Celes—the basics of slipping away, though, still remained with him. He turned away from the cars with their blinking red-yellow lights, dipped into streams of traffic and edged into quieter alleys, slowly heading west the entire time. Briefly, he wondered how Kurogane was faring. (Judging from their earlier game, probably just as well as he was.)

It couldn't be more than a quarter hour later when he dropped below the western edge of the island, full of good cheer.

Kurogane descended a few minutes later in his squashed-nosed car. As he drew closer, Fai could see the triumph in his features, his mouth pulled in a shark-like, open-lipped grin that bared his teeth.

"You're late," Fai sang, slinging an arm over the window sill of his vehicle. The wind whispered through his hair, cooling adrenaline-pumped sweat. "I didn't think Kuro-chan had that much trouble dodging those... police?"

"You started it, idiot," the other man scoffed, driving right up to Fai's car so there was barely a foot between their doors, cars pointed in opposite directions. "They had more men on my tail than yours."

"That's because you're such a sight—not too many of the cars here are black for some reason," he piped up helpfully. "Kuro-pipi needs to realize that ninja-black is not the best color scheme in all the worlds."

Kurogane rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You look stupid sitting in that tiny car."

"So do you." Fai grinned. With Kurogane's broad shoulders and height, he looked all but crammed into the driver's seat—yet he had driven so smoothly without any hint of discomfort. Steering any means of transport required a connection with the vehicle, a sense of being one with it, and thinking of Kurogane with such prowess—

"Hey," the ninja muttered. Fai hadn't realized that they'd fallen silent. "You drive well."

That Kurogane was dispensing  _compliments_  probably meant the world was ending—but all Fai could do was stare (and remember  _Cinnamon suits you_ ) while the other man eased his car over so they bumped sides with a metallic grind, strained at his seat belt and leaned in close, grabbing the collar of Fai's button-up shirt before yanking him a little ways out of the window.

Fai wasn't thinking, not at all, when their lips mashed together, until there was a sweep of warm tongue against his lips. He snuffled, scrambled backwards with a yelp, and Kurogane retreated just as hurriedly, easing his car away. He snapped his seat belt back with an audible click.

"I'm going to go find a job," Kurogane muttered, a light flush crawling up his cheeks. They were most definitely not looking at each other. "See you in a few hours."

He drove off.

Fai sat in his car for a few minutes, stunned and uneasy. What in all hell did Kurogane mean by that? Surely he wasn't feeling romantic (grumpy, growling ninja did  _not_  do that). And surely kissing someone meant nothing (Fai didn't want to consider the possibility that it did).  _Right?_

In the end, he convinced himself that Kurogane was playing some sort of cruel joke on him (but Fai was the cruel one, not Kurogane, and Kurogane did not joke). Either that, or Kurogane thought they could somehow have sex in midair. (He knew the man wasn't stupid, but—) Yes, that was it.

Fai shook his head to clear his thoughts, and pulled his car back up to the surface of the flying island.

He drifted around the city, spotting the repair shop that Sakura and Syaoran were at (and most certainly not looking out for a black car with red stripes). Restaurant work would be something he could do—maybe even baking, or waiting on tables. Maybe he could paint, or draw...

He found himself meandering back to the mall. There were plenty of food outlets in it, he thought, surely there would be a place with an opening. He needed the cash to pay for fuel (thoughts of his magic lingering about still made his gut clench), and he needed to help Sakura with her feather.

Once in the mall, though, Fai headed down instead of up. The fountain below had stopped splashing. He held on to the escalator railing and looked over—and the piano caught his eye, tugged at his stomach. Fai swallowed; his fingers twitched. The piano was still unoccupied, and it wasn't really cordoned off... If it wasn't barricaded from the public, then surely he could play it? Just for a while.

(It really helped to act a fool.)

Feeling somewhat better about his plans, Fai stepped lightly off the last of the escalators, tugging on his shirt to make himself look presentable. He checked his appearance once in reflective glass, then sauntered up to the piano as if he had every right to be there, his heart thudding skittishly the entire time.

No one protested; he lifted the heavy, polished lid, lips twitching when he found the strings in decent condition. No one said anything, either, when he propped the lid open fully with a metal stick, painted white to match the rest of the piano. His pulse quickened with a sweet mix of nerves and anticipation; he sat carefully on the stool, lifted the keyboard cover, and touched his fingers to smooth ivory keys.

He didn't want to start off with his favorite song, no. If someone came up to him right now, he would rather be interrupted in the midst of a song to warm up. (But the music was swelling in his heart, pushing loudly in the tips of his fingers, and he couldn't deny it any longer.)

The first few keys were lush purrs in his ears; a shiver traced his spine at each strike of hammer upon string, sending vibrations through his nerves. No one had come up to him, so he picked his pace up, very carefully holding his magic back so it didn't suffuse the trembling air.

Fai played one song, then another, relaxing into the music even as he kept his senses out for hostile magics and presences.

He wished he could play this for Sakura—she would be so delighted to hear this. (He almost wished he could play for Kurogane, but what did ninja know about music?)

At some point, his eyes slipped shut, and he saw green meadows and flowing rivers and twittering birds in his mind. He saw Sakura's laugh, and Syaoran's hesitant delight when he looked at his princess. He saw Mokona gulping down an entire bottle of wine, and Kurogane with his dangerous smirk, that sent a thrill through his veins by memory alone.

Someone tapped on his shoulder, coughed politely.

Fai froze mid-song, turned around, huge grin pasted on his face.

A short, tubby man stood in a dark, well-fitted suit with a crisp white shirt and ochre cummerbund, watching him with beady black eyes. "Good afternoon, Mr...?" he trailed off, extended his olive-skinned hand.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, forgive me," Fai gushed smoothly, schooling his countenance into one of abject contrition. He jumped up from the piano stool, clasped the other's hand. "I have forgotten my manners—my name is Fai. Fai Flowright."

"I do not recognize you," said the man, whose short dark hair and curled mustache Fai found familiar—he was the waiter who had told them about Emeraude's ghost in Jade Country. He had a heavy accent here. "I am Taran, owner of this food court."

Taran waved a hand towards the eateries surrounding the fountain. Fai hid a grimace. The piano probably belonged to him, then. But perhaps this was a chance to land a job amongst the wait staff?

"Mr Taran," he enthused, stepping away from the piano. "My sincere apologies about the piano—I had forgotten myself..."

"Actually," the other man interrupted, waving dismissively, "I enjoyed your playing. Right now, I only have a pianist for the dinner crowd. Should you be interested in playing for the rest of the day, I have a position open."

Fai tried not to gape. On one hand, it required constant concentration to separate his magic from the music he played (it had always been a combination of both before). On the other hand... he loved the piano, and this was the one chance he had to play it without an audience who recognized him.

And then there was something about the food court owner that had the hair on his nape prickling.

As long as he didn't know anything about Fai, though...

"I'll take it," Fai said brightly. He had come closer to danger on far more occasions. "When do I start?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kurogane does things he shouldn't, and Fai finds a new place to hide. This is also me filling out my "feather is in an adult shop" idea. (I named that Jade waiter Taran as a bit of an irony - it's a Sikh name meaning "Freedom from bondage".)
> 
> Feeling like everything I write sucks at the moment, so pointers and tips and any comments, really, would really help :) Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kind words the previous chapter - I'm so glad to see that there are those who enjoy this fic :) :) :)

The night couldn't roll around soon enough. Kurogane was sweaty and grimy, and he wished there was a shower in the day's schedule. It had been easy enough to find a job—the island had a large cargo port to meet the demands of its occupants—and he appreciated the hard labor, if it meant keeping his body in shape for fights that might occur whenever. Through the rest of the day, he had lifted crates from airships with forklifts, and hauled sacks and boxes of all manner onto waiting trucks.

Mostly, he tried not to think about Fai.

That had been a stupid move on his part. For some time there, the mage had been honestly happy—it was in the faint adrenaline-induced flush on his cheeks, the way his eyes were lit with satisfaction and quiet triumph.

Kurogane hadn't thought that the idiot would lower his guard so far down; then again, he'd never gone against Fai in some sort of a race just for the hell of it, not driven by argument or fear or necessity, but by the boyish thrill of competition. And it had been a fair game at that.

They had not needed words when agreeing on a meeting place—that they didn't only intrigued Kurogane further. Without Fai's lies and masks, how much of a team could they be? Against the Kishiim in Koryo, they had fought together, and there had been potential. In Outo, Fai had been poised to fight at his back, if it weren't for the darts that were useless against oni.

He decided not to mull over it. There was no speculating about the future, only bending things to his will by the strength of his hands.

But he still shouldn't have kissed the idiot. Not like that. Damn it.

With great reluctance, Kurogane thumbed the wadded-up notes in his pocket and started his car, merging into the thick flow of rush-hour traffic. It didn't take very long for him to arrive at the car repair shop—he could have even walked the distance, but the car cut down on time and served as temporary lodging, as Fai had declared earlier.

Syaoran, Sakura and the pork bun were sitting on a metal bench to the side of the repair shop when he landed in front of them. They had broken from their conversation the moment they spotted him, and came walking over when he frowned.

"Kurogane-san!" the kids chorused. Mokona bounced into the car and patted his face with a shrill cry of, "Kuro-daddy!"

"I'm not a daddy!" he protested, swatting the bit of fluff away. "Bother someone else."

"But Kuro-pon is Mokona's only person to bother, isn't he?" Fai said lightly from the other side of his car. Kurogane turned and glowered at him—he'd heard the wizard's car approaching, but had not bothered to acknowledge it until now. "Since the rest of us likes her!"

"Everyone likes Mokona!" the creature cheered, bouncing into Fai's outstretched palms, and he huffed at her departure.

Fai stepped out of his car and made his way over to the children; Kurogane didn't see any point in getting out just yet. "Did you have fun, Sakura-chan, Syaoran-kun?"

"Yes, I did!" the princess chirped. On closer observation, Kurogane could see smudges of dirt and oil on her clothes. "Syaoran-kun and I learned a lot."

"That's good," Fai told her with a too-wide smile, and looked at Kurogane. "What about Kuro-daddy? Did you find a job?"

There wasn't any sign of the blond's earlier rejection or shock, just the cheerful mask that ground at his nerves. He grit his teeth. "Yes."

"I was thinking," and here Fai paused, tapping a finger to his chin. He was looking at the children (mostly at Sakura). "What about we rent a room for an hour? Then we can all wash up and shower. I think you'll like it."

The boy frowned. "But Fai-san, I thought you said we need to be saving up for now—"

"Personal hygiene is very important," the mage said lightly, brushing the question away with another wave. "I'm sure we'll rest better if we're clean, right?"

Syaoran had a point. Kurogane thinned his lips, watched the blond. There was something he wasn't saying. And if he was willing to drop money on a creature comfort like showers— "You got a job," he concluded. Fai slid blue, blue eyes over to him, still smiling that bland smile. "And it pays pretty damn well."

The grin grew wider. "Now, why would Kuro-myu say that? I'm just concerned about the children's welfare. Surely we can afford this."

"What kind of job is it, then?" he countered.

At that, the mage's grin turned sly, lucid eyes narrowed to slits. "Daddy doesn't trust me! It's a proper job. You don't have to worry."

Curiosity was building on the children's faces (Kurogane hid his). He pressed further. "There are lots of things that can be considered a 'proper job'."

"Ah, well, I'm working at a cafe," Fai said brightly, looking at the kids. "It's a nice place, you know. It pays well."

Kurogane watched him carefully—were it any other person talking about a job at a food place, he would have been more inclined to believe them with a pinch of salt. But not Fai. Nothing slipped from the empty facade, though, and he knew better than to push it now. "Fine," he conceded. "What's for dinner?"

* * *

Later that night, when they were parked on an empty rooftop and the children were asleep, Fai curled up in the driver's seat of his car, shining a little LED flashlight on a new notebook, both of which he'd bought earlier. (It was very convenient that he was working in the mall (and that he'd been paid at the end of the day)—there were inexpensive stationery shops to be found in the middle reaches of the building, tucked out of sight.)

Sakura was snoring lightly in the reclined passenger seat, a thin blanket draped over her slender frame. In between inscribing his spells, Fai looked over at her to ensure that he wasn't shining light in her eyes, and that she was still sound asleep. She had gone out quick—the day must have taken a toll, more on her than Syaoran. This entire journey had to be hard on her.

Despite the way they pooled money together for necessities, he'd dallied briefly on the idea of having the kids spend their earnings on themselves instead—wasn't that what good parents did? The people of this world seemed to think so. (Eavesdropping at the food court was certainly a convenient way to amass information.) He saw the way Sakura's gaze lingered on things in shops they passed sometimes (once a hairpin, another time some fruits). It would have been a marvelous idea, except that both Syaoran and Sakura would want to contribute to their journey, sweet kids that they were. And she was a princess, no less.

(Fai was a prince, he knew— No, he was a nobody now.)

He ducked his head to concentrate on the spells. There had been some time after his shift on the piano; he had completed another four spells, stomach tight with worry that Ashura-ou would be on his way here any minute. Playing the piano had helped. Staying up at night did not. At the moment, he'd finished forty spells; it was still a far cry from the hundred or so that he'd probably need, and he was starting to wonder if this was the world in which he'd deal his beloved father's death.

Maybe he'd hit Ashura-ou with the sleeping spell again (but he wouldn't be susceptible to the same spell twice). Or maybe he'd transport the traveling group to another world, and hope Mokona could move them from there. Perhaps he could slip into a different world himself, have Ashura-ou follow him, and if he died there by his liege's hands, well, at least there wouldn't be red eyes watching him go.

A light tap sounded at his window, inches from his ear.

Fai started, almost lost his grip on his pen. He didn't have to look closely at the shadow to know it was Kurogane. He corrected his grip on the writing instrument, closed the notebook. Wondered if the other man would leave him alone if he pretended not to hear him.

"I'm not waiting all night," came the low mutter, drifting in from the lowered window panes.

"You're going to wake Sakura-chan like that," he whispered uneasily, looking over at his companion. (It had been agreed that the kids would each share a car with an adult. There would be less embarrassment, and the black car would have been insufficient for both Fai and Kurogane to stretch out in it, anyway.)

"All the more reason for you to get out here."

His stomach fluttered again, and he left the notebook on the dashboard, slowly dragging himself out into the night (as if doing that would help convince him that he really wasn't interested) and allowing the door to click loosely shut behind him.

Kurogane was waiting by the shadowy edge of the building, back against the low concrete parapet. A small bottle of wine and two sake cups sat next to him.

"Booze, Kuro-tan?" Fai sat eagerly down on the other side of the frosted glass bottle, reached for it without preamble. "I didn't think you had any."

"Went out for some while you were in the shower." Those red eyes seemed especially lambent under the pale green moonlight. They slid towards Fai, watched as he tipped precious alcohol into the cups (the same ones as they used in Nagare, he realized).

"So kind of you to share," he crowed, setting the bottle on the concrete and leaning back to sip at it. Notes of honey and pear filled his nostrils. "You're trying to bribe me, aren't you."

Kurogane scoffed. "I'm not that underhanded."

The night was balmy, the air cool and dry against his skin, and Fai relaxed some, drew his knees up to his chest. The rooftop they were camping out on wasn't much of anything—no amenities, just large, flat concrete slabs and power lines, and a dark, echoing stairwell. The sky was speckled thinly with stars that shone even with the lights of the city around them.

They nursed their drinks in silence for a few minutes.

"The shower was unnecessary," Kurogane began after some time, tipping his head back to look at the inky sky.

Fai shrugged. He saw no reason to lie where the children were concerned (not if it didn't involve his mission). "I believe Sakura-chan is still bleeding. She isn't like us. I don't want her to—"

"To be uncomfortable?" The ninja released a huff of maybe-amusement. "You heard the witch. There are worse worlds out there."

"Still. She's a princess." He looped his arms around his knees, rested his chin on them. "If you had a princess, you'd want her to have nice things too."

"Mm." Kurogane was quiet for a while.

"You do, don't you?" Fai blurted. At the other man's questioning glance, he clarified. "Have a princess. You mentioned a Princess Tomoyo when we were in Outo."

"Yeah." Kurogane threw back his wine and poured himself another cup. "I guess I would. Give her nice things."

He felt his lips pull up in a smile. "Kuro-chan is definitely daddy material."

The man snorted. "Quit that. For all that you said about saving up for the feather, you're spending money just as easily."

Fai sent him a crooked grin. "I think we'll have enough left for the feather."

"You sound confident."

"Well, maybe. You're the one who bought booze, Kuro-sama." Fai drained his cup, closed his eyes to savor the curl of warmth in his belly, before dispensing more liquor for himself. "That's even more terrible, isn't it?"

"Why's this terrible."

"Because you might have bad intentions with this," he explained with a grin, rocked the cup between his fingers. "Kuro-tan is a big, black wolf—"

"Shut up." Even in the shadow, it was obvious that there was a shade of dark color on the man's throat that was most certainly not an influence of the wine. "Your job. I don't believe that's where you're really working."

"But it is."

"Last I heard, waiting tables doesn't earn you enough to pay for a room just so we can get clean."

"Mm, Kuro-pon is very sharp," he conceded. As strange as it was, the food court owner, Taran, had not seemed quite that suspiciously ominous by the time Fai ended his shift. "But I am working legitimately at a cafe, and not one of those kinky ones, mind you."

Kurogane choked. "Yeah, whatever," he finally said.

The liquor sat in his middle like a comforting weight, and he grinned. "Kuro-rin has a dirty mind—"

"I do not!" the ninja snapped.

"But—" Fai was the one who cut himself off this time. He wasn't going to think about last night, and he sure as hell wasn't going to talk about it. Not even the kiss. "Well, what sort of job did you land?"

"Hard labor. At the port." Kurogane poured himself more wine; the amount left in the bottle was starting to seem pathetic.

"Sounds like what big, strong Daddy would do."

"I'm not a daddy!" the larger man bristled, glowered at him. "Are you done with the birds yet?"

Fai sobered up. "Why do you care about that?"

Kurogane bit back an impatient noise. "Just answer me."

"No." It sounded petulant, but it wasn't like the ninja had any business talking about this, anyway.

"You were so eager to release them that night in Nagare," Kurogane pointed out. "And you used a hell lot more magic here. There's more magic to erase in this place, if you ask me."

Fai drew a sharp breath. He didn't remember telling the younger man that much about his spells. But Kurogane was sharp (that was part of the attraction, wasn't it?) and... he was someplace safe, where Fai could hide and forget. They were silent for another long stretch again before Fai answered, "It's not like you can help, anyway."

"Try me."

He wanted to laugh. "You're a growly bad ninja, Kuro-rin, I can't see you sitting down and drawing spells. And anyway, the magic involved is complex, I don't know if I'm even doing it right."

"Don't give me that crap again. I've seen what you've done." Kurogane shot him a piercing stare, and Fai swallowed.

He busied himself with dispensing the last bit of wine, then brought the bottle to his mouth to lap the last drops of clear fluid off the glass thread.

The other man made a quiet, pained sound low in his throat. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" He slid his eyes over to the ninja, ran his tongue over his lips. (Fai almost wished Kurogane would kiss him again.)

"Nothing." Kurogane took his sake cup and knocked the liquor back.

"Hey!" Fai protested, leaning forward with a frown. "That was mine!"

"Not anymore." A slow grin crept up the other's mouth. "Besides, I bought it."

"Kuro-wan is a thief," Fai grumbled, stunned beyond believe that  _Kurogane_  had just stolen his booze from beneath his nose. "Even if you bought it, we pool our money together," he said resentfully.

"So that was fair play." Kurogane set the cup down, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

They stared at each other for a long moment, hearts thumping, snared in the desire that hung between them. Fai realized that Kurogane wasn't going to initiate anything again—he would have to mend what he did... And he shouldn't.

He really shouldn't.

Fai gulped, tore his eyes away, and stood, brushing his pants off. "I need to— I need to sleep."

No, he'd think about Ashura-ou and stay up the rest of the night working on those spells. That worked to his advantage, besides.

Kurogane's stare never left his back as he walked away.

* * *

They fell into a routine of sorts after the first day. Without a solid base they could stay in, Fai took Sakura out to procure breakfast for their travelling group in the mornings, and washing up took place at the restrooms of their respective workplaces. At the end of the day, they met up back at the car repair shop, bought a simple dinner to share, and rented a room for an hour so they could shower. No one grumbled about having to sleep in cars on the rooftops of buildings.

It was during their fourth night on the floating island that Fai suggested, over a dinner of curried chicken on flatbread, "Syaoran-kun, why don't you share the blue car with Sakura-chan tonight? I have something that needs to be done anyway, and I trust you to protect her while she sleeps. Mokona too."

Kurogane glanced sharply at him; the children looked at each other and flushed like little crimson tomatoes.

Mokona bounced from Sakura's head to Syaoran's lap, stole a chunk of the boy's food. She puffed her chest out proudly. "Mokona is very responsible!"

"But can't it wait for the morning, Fai-san?" Sakura questioned innocently, bread lifted halfway to her mouth.

He smiled and shrugged at her, patting his bandaged ankle. "You see, I thought I should finally be seeing a doctor about my foot. There just isn't time to go during the day."

"I'll drive you there." There was an obstinate set to Kurogane's jaw; Fai felt his smile freeze.

"Well, you needn't bother, Kuro-daddy," he lilted, waving limply. "I'm sure I'll be fine. But I'll need to borrow your car."

"No. I'll drive." The ninja narrowed his eyes; the children looked warily between them.

"But I haven't had problems with driving," Fai hedged, suddenly nervous. The other man could be forceful if he wanted, and he knew better than to expect Kurogane to back down easily. He kept his smile though. "Are you afraid that I'd be lonely without you?"

Kurogane glowered at him, and Syaoran and Sakura both tensed. It was subtle taunts like this that provoked dangerous reactions from the larger man—they had spent countless occasions watching from the sidelines while Kurogane chased him down, attempting to bash his head in. "I'm more afraid of you crashing the car, idiot."

"But I can drive!" Fai whined, "Are you drunk, Kuro-rin? Should we have a temporary ban on booze?"

"Kuro-daddy's being nice to Fai-mommy!" Mokona chirped loudly from Syaoran's shoulder. Kurogane swung a threatening glare at the creature; Syaoran flexed his limbs, ready to back away. (More than once, unfortunately, large fists had clipped him on the ear or shoulder when Mokona dodged at the last moment, leaving him open to attack. Syaoran had learned his lesson.)

"Shut up, pork bun," Kurogane bristled. "I'm concerned about the car, is all."

"Well then, how about Syaoran-kun and Sakura-chan sleep in your car, and I'll drive mine," Fai declared brightly.

Kurogane twitched, opening his mouth as if he were going to protest. "Whatever," he groused eventually, turning back to his food. "I don't care."

Except that he still did two hours later, when Mokona and the children were sound asleep, and Fai twisted his key in the ignition. A low rumbling sounded from the engine.

The ninja opened the driver's side door, grasped a fistful of his shirt, hauled him bodily out of the seat.

"Kuro—" he yelped, staggering to his feet and throwing a hand out so he wouldn't have to rest his weight on his sprained ankle. "What—"

"I'm driving," Kurogane said resolutely. He slipped around Fai and settled into the driver's seat, adjusting it to give himself more legroom. The car door shut soundly between them. "Get in."

Fai didn't allow himself much time to dwell on how exactly the ninja toppled his plans in one fell swoop with no effort at all, and didn't exactly think about why, either. (He wasn't going to admit to that growing weakness.) Instead, he protested. "You agreed not to drive," he hissed, "I thought you didn't—"

"I didn't promise anything, mage." Intense red eyes fixed upon him. "Now get in. I'm not repeating myself."

With all his strength, he probably couldn't pull Kurogane out of the car. And he wasn't about to use magic. Fai chewed on the inside of his cheek. The only options now were to feign ignorance and go to a doctor, or let the ninja in on his plans to release the magic-absorption spells. He limped over to the other car door and eased himself gingerly into the seat.

"Got your paper birds?" Kurogane asked brusquely, looking towards the backseat, where he'd stacked the ninety-three finished spells in a plastic carrier. "I don't suppose they fold themselves."

Fai forced a laugh. It figured that he didn't even have to explain his motivations to the younger man. (That was a very frightening thought.) Those eyes saw more than he anticipated, stripped him bare. He shivered. "What am I going to do about you, Kuro-tan?"

It would be a pity to kill this man, observant and intelligent as he was.

Kurogane made a derisive noise. He brought the powder-blue car up in a hover, then steered them in the direction of the refueling station they'd stopped by on the first day. "Nothing. I've been waiting for you to finish with the damn birds. The kid said you haven't been sleeping the past two nights."

"Syaoran-kun?" Fai frowned, thought back on the times he'd had his head bowed over his notebook, with the world outside shut out. He hadn't thought that his staying up would have been obvious, especially to someone outside his car. "Well, it shouldn't matter to you, Kuro-pon."

"If you're going to crash this car with your sleep deprivation, then hell yeah, it matters to me," the ninja retorted. "We'll need to sell it to get the feather back."

Fai tried hard not to let slip a provocative taunt. Instead, he reached for the bag of spells, pulling it open with a crinkle in his lap. "You don't have much confidence in me."

"Damn straight I don't."

It was narrow in this car, to the point where their arms and shoulders brushed with every movement. With Sakura, the lack of space had not been nearly as suffocating. Kurogane's heat and the mere intensity of who he was seemed to ignite what little oxygen existed in the space between them, and Fai wanted to crash and burn. It would be a relief not to think about Ashura-ou, but—

Fai concentrated on the unease in his gut. His fingers shook a little when he pulled the first spell out, touched the faintest trace of his magic to the empty square in the middle. The runes glowed blue; he folded the pliable paper with deft fingers.

For long minutes, he concentrated on folding the birds, and Kurogane drove in silence, hardly looking at him. (It didn't mean none of the other's attention was anchored on him, however.)

"How long do you think it'll take?" Kurogane eventually asked, when he pulled to a stop along the shadowy streets surrounding the brightly-lit fuel station, with its thick columns and cars rolling in and out.

Fai pursed his lips. "I'll release ten here. It'll be a lot quicker than before."

He gathered the folded birds in his palms, blew lightly on them so they took off towards the fuel station. They fluttered with soft, papery beats of their wings; Fai watched and hoped that no one thought them threatening—they didn't need to be hunted down, on top of being followed by his king. His fingers twitched.

"That isn't your magic," Kurogane muttered.

He slid a sidelong glance towards the ninja, smiled enigmatically. "That means I'm special, doesn't it?"

Kurogane huffed. He folded his arms across his chest. "If you're so mule-headed about not using magic, then why can't you make spells like that to help us, instead of sitting on your sorry ass?"

"But that'll put you out of a job," Fai sang. He returned his attention to folding the rest of the birds while the other man watched on. "And Kuro-min needs all the manly jobs he can get, doesn't he?"

"Don't be a moron." Kurogane rolled his eyes, reached over to knock Fai on the head. (He squawked, shied away, and Kurogane cuffed him on the chin instead.) "If you have a collection of spells like that, then you wouldn't even have to rely on your magic when you need it."

Shocked, Fai turned to stare at him. "How— That's— That's very clever of you, Kuro-pyon!" He'd thought briefly about that, but— "You're forgetting that I don't want you to rely on me. It'll make you weak, you know."

The ninja clicked his tongue impatiently. "You really are an idiot. This isn't about whether I or the kids become dependent on you. If you have paper spells that can do what you did four days ago, or in Nagare, then we wouldn't be sitting here trying to erase your footprints."

He had a point. Fai stared, and listened to the pounding of his heart. If he used pre-made spells instead of his own magic... "But you overestimate my abilities," he mumbled weakly. "I'm just a simple magician—"

"Are you really looking for a beating?" Kurogane snapped. "You did the building wards in Nagare as well. Defense and magic manipulation are two different things."

Fai gulped, looked away, his fingers creasing paper. "Kuro-rin knows so much about magic—"

"Don't change the subject."

He sighed, relented by a fraction. "The paper spells are weak. I'm sure you've noticed that."

"Then make them stronger."

"It's not that simple," Fai returned, irritation crawling beneath his skin. It was probably more than what he should have revealed, but arguing with the other man helped take his mind off Ashura (and Fai, Fai,  _Fai,_  the other reason why he hadn't wanted to sleep). "Why do you think there're so many of these birds?"

Kurogane lifted an eyebrow. "Enlighten me."

"No." Fai pursed his lips, dropped his attention back to folding birds.

"Seems stupid to me when you keep going back to correct your mistakes." Kurogane tipped his head back, closed his eyes. "It's better to avoid screwing up entirely."

Fai remained silent. Before Nagare, there had been no incidents dire enough that his magic was warranted. Would things return to normal from the next world onward? Or was this unavoidable use of magic the new normal? Should he prepare a collection of spells anyway? (But that would be acknowledging that the ninja was right, wouldn't it.)

"The birds are moving," Kurogane pointed out suddenly. He started the car up again, following the trail of fluttering paper. Surprisingly enough, those who had seen the birds did not pursue their unnatural existence, and the paper constructs were now making their way slowly along the streets of the floating island.

Fai blew on the next set of ten; the birds took off in a flurry of wings. They moved ahead in silence, until they were on the edge of the island, with the city lights behind them and the vast darkness of the sky ahead, lit only by twinkling, aloof stars. The birds which had absorbed their fill of magic and returned had been unfolded; Fai stashed them in the glove compartment until he was ready to contain them properly.

Abruptly, Kurogane turned the key in the ignition; the vibrations through the car cut off, leaving an empty, still silence in their wake.

"Kuro-rin?" Fai tipped his head, glanced towards his (uninvited) companion. The other man shrugged, reached over and grabbed the lit spell sheet from Fai's hands. "You can't just—"

"I'm folding it." Paper rustled in the dark; Fai looked closer in barely concealed shock to see what Kurogane was doing.

"Your night vision is remarkable," he observed faintly. (As was the man's memory.) "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm not going to wait the entire night for you to fold some damn paper birds," the ninja muttered. "Unlike you, idiot, I have to sleep at some point."

Fai bit his response back. This was his personal undertaking—Kurogane had no business interfering. Yet all the same, the sooner his magic was contained, the sooner he could relax, if at all. "Kuro-wan knows how to make paper creatures," he finally said, starting on a new spell sheet. "And he's good at it."

"It's a tradition in Nihon," the larger man scoffed. He lapsed into silence soon after.

They plowed through the pile of spells, Fai brushing his magic into each piece, and Kurogane taking half of them away, large fingers surprisingly dexterous around intricate folds.

"Whoever's coming after you," Kurogane blurted suddenly. (Fai's stomach squeezed tight; he remained silent.) "Are they strong?"

He swallowed. His fingers had paused on the delicate wing of a bird. "It doesn't concern you, Kuro-sama."

"It's your fight, I know," the large man continued. "But if you can't beat them, then I want to know if I'm stronger, or if they are."

Kurogane grinned, a predator's smile on his lips.

For a moment, Fai held his breath. The larger man was offering a way out, here, offering an alternative to grant Ashura-ou's wish. Ashura wanted to die by Fai's hand; yet, what if Kurogane were the one to deal the killing blow?

Fai was torn—Ashura-ou was a father to him; he could never wish for the man to be dead. But death was the latter's wish. If Fai couldn't do it, if Kurogane were willing... All the same, Fai would be betraying his liege if he wasn't the one who ended Ashura. He'd made that promise.

"Maybe you'll find out someday," he said noncommittally, shrugging.

(But he couldn't escape the thought that Kurogane was somewhere he could hide.)

(Kurogane was warm, and safe, and comforting. It had been very easy to forget around him.)

"Do you want to release these things here, or from the start of the trail?" Kurogane asked suddenly, breaking into his thoughts.

Fai looked up at him and blinked. "We release them from where it began," he said cautiously. "I should do the driving here—I can follow the trail better than you can."

The ninja stared hard at him. "I'm coming with you."

"I'm not so cruel as to leave you stranded on the edge of the island, Kuro-puu," he sang, swung his door open and eased out from the car. "Fai-mommy is a nice person, you know."

Kurogane snorted, though he acquiesced to the seat-swapping anyway, sliding into Fai's vacated seat before Fai had limped over to resume control of the car. "You? Nice? You're full of a hell lot of lies."

Fai chose to ignore that. He sank into the warm, worn seat that Kurogane had left behind, adjusting the seat and buckling his seat belt. "You aren't nice either, Kuro-rin, but you were so kind—you even made Sakura-chan her bleeding cloth!"

The larger man spluttered, glanced out of the window as Fai started the car. The traces of his magic were faint, but he could see them clearly, like ethereal violet wisps extending into the night. Fai guided them off the floating island. "Don't talk about that. You tricked me into it."

"Ah, see, you could have wriggled your way out of it, and you didn't," he crowed back. "Kuro-wan has the softest spot for Sakura-chan. Maybe even more so than Syaoran-kun."

"Fuck you," Kurogane seethed, large fists clenched in fury. "If we fall out of the sky, it's your own damn fault."

He drew a light breath; it wasn't a surprise that the warrior would see him as a source of misfortune. Kurogane's accusation stung. Fai chose to bury it for now—there were things he had to do before the night was through. "It should be Kuro-pon's fault for threatening me, shouldn't it?" he countered lightly. "You should be a bit more well-behaved, you know."

The other man worked his jaw; Fai stepped on the acceleration pedal so he wouldn't have to suffer in this tight silence. He thought briefly about the children asleep in bed, about the princess singing her heart out just that very morning, and inspiration struck.

He hit the radio button.

As it happened, the song that blared out of the speakers was one that had been popular for the past few days, now. Fai smiled, opened his mouth, and sang along to the very catchy chorus.

It didn't even bother him when the the words turned suddenly unintelligible—he knew the lyrics and the tune, and Kurogane turned to him, brow furrowed. He said something loudly, in a language full of consonants and syllables that crashed together, jabbing a finger towards the center console.

"I don't understand you, Kuro-tan," he answered. "It seems that we've moved out of Mokona's translation range."

Kurogane responded with a glower; Fai beamed at him and shrugged.

"I guess this is just as well, isn't it?" he told the ninja as they headed onward into the deep darkness, that was lit only by a star-strewn sky. Further from the city, there seemed to be billions of shining specks above them, unobstructed by clouds or other light sources. None of the constellations looked familiar. "I don't think you understand who I am, or the danger I pose to you."

The only words he was answered with slid over his ears; by the sound of it, they were annoyed grumbles, and Fai grinned anyway. "Well, you're really no fun when we can't understand each other," he continued. "I can't imagine suffering through a world like this with you."

Kurogane watched him through narrowed eyes; he shrugged.

"At least there'll still be booze, don't you think?" he proposed. The radio returned to playing another familiar song, and he dropped the monologue, humming along to the tune instead.

Fai directed the car downwards at a gentle incline close to where the mid-air drop had been. Kurogane looked suspiciously around them, saw nothing, and grit his teeth further.

"I can't help you if you choose to be grumpy," Fai informed him primly, then proceeded to release the rest of the folded birds at long last.

For a while, they watched as the swarm of paper rustled and fluttered around them, magic soaking into them rapidly for their sheer number; the rate would diminish closer to the city, when each bird would be full of magic.

Kurogane jabbed his thumb towards the fluttering flock, said something in that strange language of his. It sounded like a question.

"I can't answer you right now, Kuro-rin," Fai said, patronizingly. "Maybe later."

The man clicked his tongue and jerked his stare away.

It was another long stretch of foreign words wrapped up in a harmony of string instruments, until the lyrics hit Fai again, suddenly comprehensible. He began singing along in the next moment.

"Oi," Kurogane muttered, the expression on his face not quite surly, but close. "Is it safe to leave those birds back there?"

"Would I have done so if it wasn't?" he asked in return.  _They're powered by the wind,_  Fai wanted to add, but held back—Kurogane didn't need information like that. As long as those creations had energy enough, they would continue to flutter along the magic trail, and return to him.

"I wouldn't know," Kurogane grumbled. "You're an idiot."

"I'm glad you think so highly of me," Fai replied graciously, complete with a courtly bow. "Kuro-sama's opinions matter the most to me; he is so great and important and strong and handsome—"

Kurogane punched him in the skull. Lightly, but it was a punch nonetheless.

Fai wailed and clutched his head, an expression of absolute horror and betrayal painted across his features. "Kuro— Kuro-pon, you hit Big Kitty! The children will be so upset, oh, I can imagine Sakura-chan crying in utter misery when she sees you carrying the fallen Fai-mommy in—"

"Shut up," Kurogane hissed, reaching over to shake him hard so hard his teeth rattled.

For that reason, perhaps, they landed jarringly back on the edge of the island, back where they'd begun.

"I'm dizzy," Fai whined, swaying in his seat. "You should drive me back, Kuro-rin, I don't think I can move straight—"

"You're a complete nitwit," the ninja muttered, red eyes boring into him. There wasn't as much heat in his words as Fai thought there'd be, though, and he chose not to question why. Perhaps Kurogane was feeling tired. "There's still the doctor after this."

"The doctor?" Fai echoed. "You didn't hit me that hard, even if you like to think of yourself as a big, strong man."

"Your ankle," the ninja grit, enunciating each syllable. "Evidently, your head needs to be checked as well."

"Oh." Fai forced a grin, waved dismissively. "Well, I'm feeling better. It's not as if a doctor can do much else with a sprained ankle."

"You haven't been treating it with ice for the past few days," Kurogane pointed out, tone dry. "That isn't going to help."

"Kuro-pon has been watching me!" he exclaimed brightly. Had he really noticed? "How nice of him!"

It bore exactly the intended effect of averting the man's gaze. Kurogane fell silent. Fai fidgeted in his seat, watched the distance for signs of his paper birds. If Ashura-ou showed up now, it would all have been for nothing... His stomach squeezed.

No flicker of magic appeared; the air did not warp and crack.

When the first of the swarm made its appearance, Fai tightened his fists, barely remembering to breathe as he watched his freedom inch closer. How much more magic could he afford to wield before his liege woke from that magical sleep?

He swallowed dryly, thought about Ashura-ou, and—  _(Not Fai, not right now.)_  He couldn't breathe.

Fai fumbled to release his seat belt, stumbled out of the car, sucking in huge gasps of air.  _Think about the princess,_  he told himself,  _think about Syaoran and Mokona and the pianist job I have here._

He was trembling by the time the first of the birds fluttered over to him, bent over the roof of the semi-circular car and breathing unsteadily into his folded arms. Birds clustered about his head and limbs and torso, their wings rustling.

A hand landed on his shoulder.

Fai jerked away and leaped backwards, wincing when his ankle buckled beneath him.  _Ashura—_

Kurogane stepped up and caught him by an elbow, crimson eyes piercing, countenance watchful. "What do we do about the birds?" he said quietly, gesturing towards them.

He slapped the inane grin on his face so quickly that the ninja glowered and jerked him forward, so there were inches between their faces.

"Stop smiling like that," he growled, voice rough with anger. "You aren't fooling me."

"I can try, can't I?" he maintained, still with the smile, but it was a slippery thing, when Kurogane released him and began to snatch at the birds, carefully unfolding them into flat sheets of paper. "Don't," Fai said sharply, "Don't touch that."

The ninja raised an eyebrow, tucked another wrinkled spell sheet under his palm. "Why not? This was what you did before."

"They have nothing to do with you." Fai frowned, snatched at the undone spell sheets. Kurogane yielded them without a fight. "Why do you bother with me?"

He limped back to the open door to grasp the plastic carrier, weighing it down with his notebook while he tucked the unfolded spells in. Kurogane did not answer.

For a long, uncomfortable stretch, all they did was unfold paper birds, until every last one was unfolded and accounted for. Fai allowed himself to relax a little. Not having a trace of magic lingering didn't mean that Ashura-ou wasn't awake, and that he hadn't already pinpointed Fai's location.

Fai was back in the passenger seat, and they were on their way back to the dark rooftop where they'd left the kids when the other man suddenly asked, "Is it something you really want to know?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Why I— Why I'm helping you," Kurogane muttered. He glanced away.

The temptation to find out gnawed in his middle, and Fai opened his mouth to speak. Why would someone so upstanding bother with him?  _(You're a good person.)_  But knowledge wasn't always a boon; knowledge could be crippling. Knowledge would draw them closer than they should be. And he might have to kill this man someday. "No," Fai said, "I don't want to know."

Kurogane shrugged. "Fine."

In the end, they landed where the kids were, and the larger man had woken Mokona up for bandages. He forced Fai to sit, wrapped the ankle like he'd done in Nagare, and left Fai to sleep alone in the car, while he sought his rest elsewhere.

Fai was certain he was grateful for the distance. It would have been too awkward for them both to sleep in the little car, too crowded, besides. Yet, as he lay alone staring up into the foam-lined ceiling, he couldn't help but remember reassuring heat, warm and protective enough to keep his nightmares away. It was another regret to add to his growing list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 4 sets up for the Yama arc, as you can tell.. Can't put that off for much longer. ;)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **This chapter is rated M for mentions of sex.**

It happened on the sixth night, whilst they were lying still in the car, windows drawn partway down so the cool, dry air drifted lazily in over them.

"Fai-san," Sakura ventured quietly. "I was... I was thinking."

He turned in his reclined seat to meet her gaze, sharp and alert for how tired she had seemed during dinner. It was late; he had been lying awake and staring at the ceiling, wallowing in his (sad, guilty) thoughts before Sakura stopped attempting to sleep and spoke instead. "What is it, Sakura-chan?" he answered just as softly.

"Well, the other day," she began, her forehead creasing, eyes dulling with memory. "At the mall, when we were searching for the feather, the shop we stopped in had that room Syaoran-kun and I weren't allowed to enter." At his nod, she continued, "Why— Why do people need things like lingerie? Or, well, or the things in the adults-only room? I know it's something adults in love do, but— I— I'm sorry if that's too forward a question—"

There must have been some surprise on his face, because she faltered. "No, no, don't apologize," he hurried to say. "It's a good question."

He realized that he didn't know if she'd known things like that before she lost her memories, and whether it was in his place to pass such information on to her. (Was he even qualified— Talking about this with Sakura made him feel so very old.) When she continued to look at him, he asked cautiously, "How much of adulthood do you know?"

The princess blushed. "I— I'm not sure. I don't have all my memories back, but it feels as if I should know... The maids in the palace were always giggling about something, and I can't recall what it was."

Fai pursed his lips. He knew, for a fact, that Kurogane was awake in the other car, and could clearly hear whatever was being said. Syaoran, he wasn't so sure about. The princess was aware of none of this. All the same, though, Syaoran was probably of age, and Fai didn't know if he'd received that talk from anyone at all (the boy looked so lost sometimes). Perhaps it would do them all a favor if he explained the intricacies of adulthood this way—all the better because the children could blush all they want, and not have to look at each other in the face.

(Maybe Kurogane would benefit from it too. Who knew?)

"Well," he said, making sure to speak just loudly enough so his voice would carry, but not so much that his intentions were obvious, "I'll start by explaining the fundamentals, I guess. You see, when boys grow into men, and when girls grow into ladies, their bodies change. I think you already know that, don't you, Sakura-chan?"

The princess watched him in embarrassed silence, but nodded and held his stare. He admired her for her bravery.

"As adults, people have different priorities—they work, (they lead kingdoms, just like your brother) they build homes, and sometimes they have families." Here, Fai paused, and forcibly removed thoughts of blue eyes from his mind, his breath hitching. He shifted his weight to lie back, staring at the ceiling. "People want families for different reasons. I— I can't tell you all the reasons, but sometimes their bodies tell them to. Sometimes it's just to carry on a lineage."

(What a joke his lineage turned out to be.)

Sakura gulped; he lifted his eyebrows, asked gently, "Would you like me to continue?" She smiled, so he did. "Sometimes people don't want families, sometimes they do. Either way, when two people like each other enough, I guess, there is an attraction between them."

(He could imagine Mokona asking,  _Like Fai and Kurogane?_  but he shoved that out of his mind, too.)

"It isn't just limited to an emotional attraction. Sometimes, people are physically attracted to each other—they like each other's bodies." (Like a large hand cupping his hip and fingers digging into his skin—) At her uncomfortable silence, he added, "Well, you don't have to act on that attraction, you know. Or if someone you aren't interested in is attracted to you. It's not expected of you to reciprocate those feelings, or do what you don't want to. Remember that, okay?" Sakura nodded. "Back to our discussion: whether it be emotional or physical attraction, sometimes people have sex."

She flushed at the word; he paused.

"Simply put, lingerie and other adult things are really to enhance the experience of sex. Sometimes people look to change things up in the bedroom, and sometimes they want to turn their partners' thoughts in that direction. Wearing lingerie is like wrapping a gift—sometimes one uses it to feel pretty, sometimes one uses it to entice."

"Oh. Will I need lingerie?" Sakura whispered. Her glance flickered towards the door, beyond which Kurogane's car was parked.

Fai smiled at that. "You're plenty beautiful, Sakura-chan. I'm sure that anyone who is interested in you will not require the use of additional accessories to see how beautiful you are. But if you'd like to change things up in an established relationship, they're an option."

The poor girl was so furiously red that he half-expected her to burn up. "O-Okay."

"That said," he added on a cautionary note, in case the princess and the boy ever got it into their heads to move past stuttering around each other, "There are consequences to sex—the most important being the possibility of pregnancy." Fai thought the girl might faint. He raised his eyebrows; she mumbled shakily for him to go on. (Was Syaoran listening and blushing just as hard? He would have snickered if Sakura hadn't been hanging on to his every word.) "I'm sure you know just how heavy that consequence is."

She nodded again, muttering, "We had to release some palace maids who were heavily pregnant—I didn't see them for some time."

He hummed in agreement.

"Well, there are different ways of avoiding it, of course." There had been various medical texts on Celes that he'd been through when he found that he couldn't wield restorative magics; some of them included non-magical forms of pregnancy-prevention, that he hadn't thought useful until now. "The withdrawal method—that is, when a man removes himself from a woman to avoid planting his seed in her. It isn't a foolproof method, and I'd suggest avoiding that," he added dryly. Sakura stared at him in horror. "I'm sure that in advanced worlds like this, there are physical barriers available to people who aren't ready for pregnancy.

"The other option is to engage in forms of sex which won't result in pregnancy," he continued. (Kurogane would murder him if he ever walked in on the kids having any sort of sex at all.) "Part of why people have sex is the pleasure it creates—it can be brought about with hands and mouths, and there might not be any need for sexual intercourse at all."

"I don't know how to do any of that," Sakura whispered, mortified. She glanced towards the other car again. "What if— What if I disappoint Sy— W-well, that is, what if I make mistakes?"

Fai tried to smile reassuringly at her. "Well, if you choose to share this intimacy with a person who cares for you, Sakura-chan, then they really won't mind if you make mistakes. He'll forgive you."

(At least, Syaoran would. Fai wasn't so sure about other people he wasn't going to name.)

"I— I know that, but... well." Here, she colored deeply once again. "Will— Will you teach me how? That is, if— if you know— You seem like you would know many things, Fai-san."

He froze and swallowed, blinking at her to hide his disbelief. The princess was asking  _him_  to educate her on pleasuring someone? (Someone who was probably awake in the other car and listening by now, no less.) It was probably a good idea to make light of the situation—heaven knew the girl would probably faint halfway through this otherwise. As it was, her brother would probably slaughter Fai if he found out.

"Please?" she mewled, and he found he could not resist.

"Well, all right," he said, deliberately lightly, easing a smile onto his face so it wouldn't be so awkward in the car. "Now, the first thing you probably need to know is that, in sex, there is one part of a man where he would like to be touched most." (He wasn't about to explain anal ministrations, not right now.) "When he's aroused, it rises at his groin, like... like a sword."

It really did not help that there were two swordsmen in the next car. No.

"There really isn't much to it," he continued, meeting Sakura's gaze kindly and absolutely not thinking about that night in Nagare. "You see, this part of a man very much likes pressure and heat. Stroking this... this sword with your hand works well enough, I would think, but if you'd like to add a little something to it..."

Fai trailed off at this point, looked slyly at the girl. (She stole a glance towards the other car.) It was nice sharing secrets like that, even if they were absolutely filthy. If she could witness gory fights and death and destruction, then surely a little bit of sexual knowledge wouldn't kill her. He could live with that reasoning. Better yet, he was preparing her for her future life with Syaoran (however hopeless that future was). They would thank him for this. The princess nodded fervently.

"You'd have to use your mouth," he confided with a little smile. "And your tongue. You see, it feels very, very good when you take him into your mouth and suck, though not to the extent that you choke. You can vary the pressure and the rhythm, keeping as much contact with him as you can."

(There had been fingers gripping tight in his hair when he did that.)

"The most sensitive part of his... sword is the underside of the entire length—that is, the part facing you," he continued. "If you dragged your tongue gently along this side, he would feel very, very good. More so when you stroke the sac of skin underneath. Even the most cantankerous of men would groan and lose control at that."

(Sweat had gleamed over a sculpted chest; tendons in his neck had strained, and he had been forced down hard on that very delectable length.)

A low, violent curse erupted from the next car, accompanied by a  _thump_ , and Fai nearly lost his smile. Sakura looked the direction of their companions, but did not peek out of the window. "Fai-san?" she breathed. She clearly wasn't dim, because her gaze was shifting back and forth between him and the other car in the next instant, the permanent blush on her cheeks darkening all over again. "Why is Kurogane-san—"

"Well, that was just a theoretical example," he answered lightly, waving her question off. "I'm not talking about my own experiences, you know."

(Except he was. And if the memory had destabilized his breathing and caused a slight discomfort in his pants, he certainly was not acknowledging it.)

Sakura parted her lips, as if she was on the verge of asking a question about Kurogane, but shut her mouth at the last moment, smiling gratefully at him. "I really appreciate you telling me all this, Fai-san."

He grinned back at her. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

She shook her head. "No, it wasn't. I'll keep it in mind."

But Kurogane had known exactly who he was talking about, and if Syaoran was awake, he would have inferred just as much from that explosive reaction.

Fai wasn't thinking about it, he really wasn't. Syaoran had looked traumatized enough the first morning in this place as it was. (All the same, release would be something very pleasant to have.)

"You should probably go to sleep now, Sakura-chan," he told her, listening as the door on the other car slammed, and footsteps quietly stalked away. The princess looked around in surprise at the noise, but smiled and nodded at him.

It was a while before her breathing evened out. By then, he'd stopped smiling, returning time and again to those memories in the dark—in Nagare, and in that dark bathroom on the first night here, when Kurogane had pinned him to the wall. He remembered the desperate groping, the other man growing wet for him, and swallowed hard. It really did not help that he was acutely aware of the fact that Kurogane had not returned to his car. Was he sleeping elsewhere, or was he—

Against his better judgement, he left the car, limped with his sturdy cane quietly over to the stairwell, which was the only place the ninja could be on the otherwise empty rooftop.

The door creaked open when he pushed at it with his fingertips; wine-red eyes glowed at him from the dimness within. Fai swallowed hard, closed the door firmly shut behind them. Their breathing was very loud in that tiny space.

Like before, there weren't any words exchanged when Kurogane pushed him into the wall, ducked down so their lips crashed and melded, opening and sharing slick heat. Their hips ground together; he gasped. He wasn't sure which of them was the first to begin reaching for the other, not when his blood was pounding in his ears and in his groin, and he ached for sweet wet warmth just as much as he wanted to coax all semblance of composure away from the larger man. Kurogane reached into his pants, curled large fingers around him, and he shivered.

Tonight, he decided, he wasn't going to think about consequences.

* * *

("She didn't need that talk."

"Which talk, Kuro-pyon?" A pause, a swallow. "You have good taste in wine."

"Tch. That one. Last night."

"Sakura-chan asked for it, you know."

"She's still a kid."

He chuckled lowly this time. "Are you sour about it because she's young, or because it was a talk about grown-up things?"

Silence echoed around them for a bit, interspersed with distant sounds of traffic.

"Are you blushing, Kuro-sama?"

"I am  _not_."

"If you say so."

"I do say so. Shut up and drink."

"One bottle isn't enough for the two of us. You should buy a bigger one next time."

"Buy it yourself, idiot.")

* * *

They made it all the way to the weekend before the next wrinkle manifested.

"I've been looking forward to today. It's been a while since we got to rest," Sakura reflected cheerily over breakfast. The children had finally ceased to blush as horribly around each other after Fai's lesson on sex the other night—something Fai was grateful for. (He didn't need the reminder of what had happened after that talk.) "Syaoran-kun and I were thinking of going to a few places."

"Oh?" he glanced at the princess, dishing a large pile of sausages and toast onto a paper plate for Kurogane. Over the nine-day week, they'd accumulated a small fortune and purchased a tiny but workable toaster oven; the appliance was proving very useful in the provision of warm breakfasts. Neither he nor Kurogane were particular about needing hot food; Sakura especially appreciated it, however, and Syaoran was heartened by her joy. "Where?"

Kurogane yanked his plate away before Mokona could launch herself at it; Fai smiled at their antics. ("You have your own food," Kurogane snapped in the background, while Mokona tried to dive into his breakfast anyway. "Makes me wish we're eating out of those damn plastic bags from before.")

"I thought of going to the library," Syaoran announced between bites of a purple, pear-like fruit. "We'll spend the morning there. Sakura-hime wants to go to the mall in the afternoon."

Fai stiffened, kept the smile on his face. "The mall? Is there something you need, Sakura-chan?"

The princess blushed and shook her head. "No, not really. It's just that there were so many things there, it's almost like a market," she gushed, green eyes bright with excitement. "I'd love to visit a marketplace, to see if there's anything like the one in Clow Country. Maybe we can visit the cafe you're working at, Fai-san!"

Dread dropped into his stomach like a heavy piece of rock; he stared at her for a while, smiled wider. "Ah, no," he began slowly, scrabbling for something to say without disappointing the girl. "It's a— It's a cafe for adults only, Sakura-chan, I'm sure you wouldn't want to see something like that."

Both children flushed.

Kurogane glanced shrewdly over at his answer, losing a sausage to Mokona in the process. Fai didn't bother informing him about the theft.

Sakura's excitement diminished anyway; he winced inwardly. "Well, that is to say, I'm sure it's boring to you, Sakura-chan. But I do know of a marketplace on this island!"

Somehow, he managed to cheer the children back up with his descriptions of the fruit-and-vegetable bazaar—he'd had time to explore the island after work, after all—and relaxed when they began to focus on their altered plans for the day, chattering with much enthusiasm between themselves.

"You're working today?" Kurogane's low question cut beneath their voices.

Fai turned to smile blandly at him. "Why, yes, Kuro-pon. Are you?"

"Yeah," Kurogane revealed after a pause. The ninja continued to study him with that closed-off stare, and Fai knew that he'd caught the blatant lie about the cafe. Kurogane did not mention anything of it, though, instead turning back to his food and muttering, "At least we aren't eating sweet crap all the time here."

"The children like my cooking!" Fai informed him indignantly, propping fists on his hips. "It's you who doesn't have a refined taste, Kuro-daddy. If you weren't so picky about food, maybe you might even—"

"You need to shut up," Kurogane said lowly. What had Fai's mouth going dry, though, was the piercing gaze that held his, framed by dark lashes, and the strong jaw that didn't detract from full, moist lips. (Not to mention the hard, defined muscles rising and falling beneath his hand the other night, and the thick thigh between his—)

Fai gulped, turned back to his own food. He really needed to... to think about something other than Kurogane. Something less dangerous. (But wasn't  _he_  the lethal one?)

He focused on the piano in the mall instead.  _Yeah. That would work._

* * *

Kurogane swore at himself. He hadn't anticipated that he, of all people, would be the one resorting to lying by omission. He had lied, fucking  _lied_. All because of the damn mage.

Granted, he had worked today. It was only the morning shift, but the idiot hadn't clarified which it was, so it had been a half-truth.

It still ate at him nonetheless.

He slammed the car door shut behind him, locked it, and strode towards the mall, doing a constant sweep of his surroundings for signs of danger. There wasn't any—shoppers milled about on the wide, palm-lined boulevard, which had glass railings on the sides and cars flying high above, and stepped into the mall, all over again.

The closed atmosphere, filled with so many people that it sounded like a low, incomprehensible murmur washing all around him, prickled his skin. It felt almost like a battlefield; there was the constant press of bodies, but no metallic sword clangs or firing of guns, just a bunch of glossy shopping bags that banged into his knees every so often.

What caught his immediate attention, though, were the lush notes of music that chimed around him, that sounded very similar to the piano the idiot had purchased back in Outo but never played, and the princess tested hesitant keys on. (Syaoran had proclaimed that she played well anyway.) Except the pianist here clearly knew what they were doing, and if Kurogane deigned to admit, was actually pretty good.

He filed the sound in his mind, flicking his gaze over the various lit storefronts on this level, which were swarmed with people, unlike the only other day he'd set foot into this place. It was the same through the worlds—where there was peace, people flocked to shops and marketplaces on their days off. (Tomoyo enjoyed visiting the bazaars around Shirasagi castle on occasion; the mere thought sent an hollow ache through his gut.)

Kurogane moved through the crowd easily—people tended to flow around him—and figured that the cafe the wizard was working at was probably one hidden away from plain sight. For all that he'd glossed over his workplace details, Fai's stiffness this morning had clearly revealed that he was working at the mall, and had not wanted to risk the children catching sight of him. It was definitely not an adult-oriented cafe, either. The idiot hadn't lied when they discussed their new jobs privately; yet, what kind of cafe would allow him to afford paying for showers every night? And why would he go to such lengths to conceal a job?

He wandered around the first level of the mall, ducking into corridors leading to busy little shops behind the ones facing the central escalator well. There weren't cafes there; he headed one floor down, and decided to look over the escalator railings to see if it was that same tall woman in the Outo bar on the keys.

Wispy cornsilk hair on a head bent over the keyboard, clean white sleeves wrapped around thin arms, and long, pale fingers that he was exceedingly, intimately familiar with.

Kurogane bit his tongue before he swore aloud. This was the job the idiot mage was trying to hide? Playing a damn fucking  _piano_?

As if Fai sensed his fury, or his attention, he shifted slightly, looking up just as Kurogane straightened and pulled himself away from the edge of the escalator. There was no pause in the music to indicate whether he'd recognized him, though Kurogane wasn't too concerned about what-ifs. Instead, he quenched his irritation, stepped off the escalator and stood a little ways back from the railings around the well.

From this angle, he could still watch the mage on the piano without being seen. The man had his eyes closed, and his hands danced over the keys like swift-footed deer, chasing a melody that was soothing and calm, a lullaby from somewhere. What surprised Kurogane most, aside from the twit playing a piano in secret, was the fact that there wasn't a damn mask on that stupid face—or at least, there wasn't any resembling artificial happiness.

Fai looked... calm. Not frightened or sad or haunted, just... peaceful. It wasn't an unfamiliar countenance; Kurogane had seen it before—it was a look the mage wore when they'd had sex and the blond was coming down from his release, before he gathered his wits about him again. (For sure, it wasn't a hateful expression.)

Why would he go through such lengths to drop that brainless facade? Kurogane frowned, leaned against a marble-lined wall and folded his arms. That Fai found joy (if it could be called that) in something at all made him very human, more so than the persona he tried to hide behind. Kurogane refused to think of it as an endearing trait.

(Yet he could imagine Tomoyo sending him that sideways look, the one that was so knowing, like when he'd sworn never to bow to anyone and ended up pledging himself to her.)

Those scars on Fai's fingertips—were they from the piano? Kurogane frowned. The blond was admittedly good at playing the instrument (it was easy to see how he'd landed this job) but for the life of him, he couldn't imagine a mess of scars like that resulting from someone playing a fucking piano. There weren't even sharp edges on that damn thing. Were those scars and Fai's musical history even related? What had he to hide from even the children, to not be able to reveal even this harmless facet of himself?

Why was he so scared?

As far as Kurogane was concerned, the past wasn't something one held in front of himself. There was too much going on in the present to look back—did Fai not know that? (But Fai had used his magic to save the princess on two occasions now. Surely he knew the importance of not being restricted by his ghosts.)

The current melody trailed off; there was a moment's pause, and when Fai began playing again, it was to a light, thoughtful tune that tugged at the very corners of his lips.

Kurogane stared.

It was one of those rare smiles that were becoming increasingly common whenever Fai did something soft-hearted for the kids. His music picked up, like pattering feet in a meadow or a bubbling river rushing over smooth stone, and he seemed to lose himself in the song, speaking a language Kurogane could only guess at, with how the music hinted at a playful, carefree persona that the wizard tried so hard to emulate at times.

Was that who Fai wanted to be? Did he think that if he pretended hard enough, he could be that way? Why would he refrain from playing the piano openly if it made him this happy?

No matter which way Kurogane looked at it, the answer did not come to him, so he remained by the wall, mulling over what he was going to say to the idiot later.

* * *

Lost in the melodies he wove around himself, Fai didn't pay much heed to the flow of time. For certain, there was a stylish, wrought-iron wall clock mounted on one of the polished food court pillars to his right—he hadn't much use for it, though. The owner of the food court, Taran, had not minded when he chose to skip his lunch break; it benefited them both. Taran, because the patrons swelled in number during the hours Fai played, and Fai, because another hour spent working meant more pay, and money saved from not having to feed himself. (He could deal with hunger; it was nothing new to him.) Besides, with the extra money, they could afford to buy better food for the children, and set away some dry rations for the following worlds.

Where saving for the feather was concerned, they were doing better than he'd expected. All of them were working full time, and the children brought in the occasional commission pay for helping finish a car early. Fai estimated that they'd need just a few more days to accumulate savings enough to purchase that feather. After that, well, they'd probably move on to the next world. Or linger in this one to replenish their hoard.

His fingers had been moving of their own accord through the pieces whilst he thought. Over the past week, he had restrained his magic to the point where it didn't feel unnatural to separate it from his music, even if he was far more accustomed to weaving both together. Magically-charged music was potent, and he had learned to play the piano while holding back his magic; once he had grasped the basics, though, Fai had never played without magic infusing his melodies. He had earned prideful smiles from Ashura-ou with his life-breathing pieces, charmed the kitchen staff of the castle with jaunty tunes that made the silver cutlery dance.

In comparison, these tunes he played now were distinctly flat—but what did everyone else know about songs heavy with magic?

A sudden flare of negative energy had him glancing upwards. There was a bit of movement on the escalators above; but the presence was subdued almost immediately after. A threat?

Cautiously, Fai made his way through an old children's ditty, then a Celesian folk song, stretching his senses out the entire time. The hostile presence did not rear its head again, however. Perhaps it was a parent with an errant child? The thought reminded him strongly of Mokona and Kurogane; Fai couldn't help the little smile on his lips.

On a whim, he decided to play the tune he held closest to his heart—it was a song about the changing of seasons, when ice thawed into streams and tender grass pushed soft green heads through soil to bask in sunshine. Spring on Celes was a time of new beginnings. He appreciated the warmth and the fresh start, even if a murderer like him would never be granted salvation until—

Well, he was on his journey, making his way to that point, and that had to be enough for now. (He hoped.) Things were good in this world. Kurogane wasn't doing anything he shouldn't, and so Fai didn't have to kill him.

(Sometimes, Mokona talked about the other Mokona—she said they'd both be very happy to meet again. Sometimes Fai wondered if he would have been delighted to meet Kurogane, were their circumstances any different. The warrior was someone he respected, someone he almost wished he could be; brave, ferocious,  _good_.)

He smiled thinly to himself, wistfully.

The next song was one of longing.

Fai lost track of how long he played. The patrons around him thinned, then began to crowd the tables—a sure indication of the dinner crowd. When he looked up, Taran was off to the side, as if waiting for him to finish. In his surprise, he cut the song short, tacking the ending bars to an appropriate segment, before raising his eyebrows in an invitation to begin a conversation.

"Mr Taran?" he asked politely, making to stand.

"Sit, sit," his employer replied genially, waving to dismiss the formality. The little prickle of something not quite right was back, and Fai forced a smile onto his face, flexing his calves in the event that he needed to flee. He remained seated.

"To what pleasure might I owe your presence?" Fai inquired. He remembered the lies and dishonesty of Jade country, the snow and invisible ghosts that reminded him too much of himself.

"Ah, it's not much," the tubby man rumbled in his thick accent, stepping closer. He was dressed in another fitted suit today, though the cummerbund was rose-red this time. "How are you liking the job?"

"I like it very much," he answered with painted-on cheer, "Without your generosity, I would not have found such a position."

Taran nodded, clasped his stubby hands together. Standing, he bore the height advantage over Fai, though this did not put the wizard in a precarious position. Fai took note of his surroundings anyway, looked discreetly for escape routes and leverage points. "I am glad to hear that," the not-waiter answered. "I would hate to think my pianist unhappy in this food court."

"I am very comfortable here," Fai hurried to reassure him. "But surely you couldn't have come just to ask me this?"

"Ah, you're a sharp one." Taran smiled—it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well, it just so happens that I have a message for you." At Fai's curious stare, he continued, "It is as follows:  _Remember your mission._ "

His lungs froze into ice crystals; he stopped breathing. It couldn't— "Who," he gasped, "Who is it from?"

Taran's mouth pressed into a mirthless smile. "I think you know," he said smoothly, mustache twitching. "Fai Flowright."

"I— I see." Fai blinked, kept his face in a smooth mask. The uneasiness was back in full force, in the form of the prickling on his nape, and the heavy intangible bars that thundered down around him. (So much for playing the piano, so much for thinking to escape. They were still being watched.) He swallowed with some effort. "Thank you for telling me."

The food court owner nodded, and smiled wider the second time around. "There is more," he said to Fai's dismay. After a pause, " _Remember the other._  Just that."

_(Fai, Fai, FaiFaiFai.)_

"I understand," he said shakily, suddenly glad that he was seated. His stomach wrenched. "Thank you."

Taran nodded at him, then slipped a white envelope onto the reflective surface next to the music rack. "I thought I'd take the chance to leave you with today's pay while I'm here," he added, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Fai nodded, numb as he stared at the retreating back of his employer. Was this to do with Kurogane? Because his master would not have objections to him interacting with the children, would he? But all he did with Kurogane— Could it have been something else that necessitated the warning? Did his master know that he was prolonging the time they spent on this floating island, now that he'd removed his traces of magic?

There was still ten minutes or so before his shift ended, and Fai couldn't help the woodenness with which he played. (The warning couldn't have come because he was playing the piano, could it?)

(But he would much rather be ordered to stop fooling around with music, he realized with a jolt.)

Fai wheezed, trying to fill his lungs even as he moved his fingers unseeingly over the keyboard. He needed to remember who Kurogane was. The ninja was a pawn of the witch (they were both pawns) and he shouldn't spend more time with him than necessary. (But drinking with Kurogane was fun, and so were the times they—)

He screwed his eyes shut. It figured that his employer in this world had ties with the man who resided past that dark gap of reality, the wizard who had placed the curse on him. Who else would give him a job he loved, unlucky person that he was? (There was the Cat's Eye Cafe too, but that was in Outo, and Outo was not real.)

When his shift was finally over, and after he tucked the envelope of cash into his pocket, Fai stumbled back to his car in a daze. How could he bring himself to stop with... with whatever was between himself and Kurogane? (Because he sure as Hell didn't want to. It wasn't like they were close, anyhow.)

"Oi."

He snuffled at the voice, looked up.

Kurogane was leaning against the powder-blue car, arms folded, watching him shrewdly. Fai forced down a hollow laugh—this, too, was inevitable, wasn't it? "What is it, Kuro-tan?" he asked weakly, scooping his broken mask together to present some semblance of a smile. "How did you even find me here? Was it your sharp doggy sense of smell?"

The larger man frowned. "If you can't smile," he growled, "don't."

Fai smiled harder. It was a barrier between them, even if it didn't work. "Well, you can't tell me when to smile, since you don't seem to know how yourself."

Kurogane worked his jaw. His fingers twitched; for a moment, Fai half-expected the warrior to lunge at him—but it was daylight, and they were not in some secluded rooftop stairwell. "I saw you with that short guy. The one from Jade. What did he say to you?"

The smile slid right off his face; Fai wondered why he even bothered. "What?"

At this point, even denying the fact that he played the piano was a moot argument. Kurogane had seen it all. (Did Fai even have a chance at hiding? Truly?)

"I'm not repeating myself," the ninja said sharply, crimson eyes fixed on him, hard and assessing. "Answer the question, mage."

"It doesn't concern you," he bit, looked away. "How long were you here?" And in a more accusing tone, "you said you were working today."

"I did." Kurogane left it at that.

Faced with something to think about other than his own situation, he latched onto the discrepancy in the other man's words. "But you always show up at the car repair shop with the children," Fai pointed out resentfully. "You aren't sweating like you just came over from the port, and you don't use the air-conditioning in the car."

How he knew this much about Kurogane, Fai didn't want to know.

Kurogane clicked his tongue—he was annoyed; Fai had caught on to something. "And?"

It didn't take long for someone like him to arrive at his conclusion. "You were lying?" Fai blurted incredulously. "Kuro-pon?"

He was the one who lied, not  _Kurogane_.

There was a telltale shade of scarlet creeping up the ninja's neck. "I worked today," the ninja insisted sourly, brow furrowed. "You're the damn liar, you idiot."

"But you didn't work the whole day," Fai concluded, his eyes wide. "So that means—"

"Nothing."

"—You were spying on me?" There were many conclusions he could draw from this, like  _He might know more about my magic_  and  _He knows I'm hiding something bad_ , and  _Maybe he heard the message,_  but a shiver raced down his spine anyway. He was scared. He wanted to preen. Kurogane had seen him do something he was good at.

The other man did not answer, and that was really all Fai needed to know. They stood in tense silence for a while, until Kurogane grumbled grudgingly, "you don't play badly."

His heart skipped. Fai turned away to hide the little flush that bloomed on his cheeks. What he was doing, he didn't want to know. His master was probably watching in sheer disappointment, and it was shameful, but he was fucking blushing at a compliment from Kurogane. Kurogane thought he did well.

He wanted to burrow into a hole in the ground, he really did.

Instead, he cleared his throat and limped over to the driver's side door. "Well, it's time to pick the children up, Kuro-tan."

Kurogane made it to his door quicker than he did, and splayed a large, tanned palm over the hard plastic window so he couldn't open it without some force. "That guy back in the mall," he said past the receding ruddiness on his neck. "What did he want with you?"

Fai swallowed and attempted another smile. "Well, he wanted to know how I liked my job—"

The ninja growled; large hands snapped out and grabbed his collar, hauling him forwards and up. "You were scared senseless, mage. Don't think I didn't see that."

He couldn't look away from burning red eyes; he was drowning in them.

"Was he threatening you?" Kurogane pressed. Fai jerked his head in an attempt to shake it. "The kids?" Another shake. "He from your past?"

Fai winced at that, a twitch of his cheek muscle, and Kurogane exhaled slowly, worked his jaw. The reaction seemed to satisfy him; he set Fai roughly on his feet, took a step backwards. (For a moment there, Fai had been afraid that the warrior would attempt to kiss him again.)

"I won't interfere," the larger man said quietly, fixing him with a calculating look. "You can handle him yourself."

"I did," he answered in a small voice.

Kurogane snorted. "Running scared isn't dealing with anything."

In that instant, Fai wanted to snap,  _What do you know about my past,_  but it would have given too much away, and he didn't want to invite more questions, not in the least from Kurogane. He remained silent.

There was another beat of tension between them, then the ninja turned towards his own black car, which was parked next to Fai's. "I won't hesitate to strike him down if he proves to be a threat," he said over his shoulder.

Fai didn't reply, merely watched as Kurogane started the engine.

"Get back to the repair shop in one piece," the man instructed. He clicked his seat belt, steered the car up into the air. With a loud engine roar, he was off.

Fai fell weakly back against the side of his car, laughed humorlessly. "If only you knew, Kuro-rin," he mumbled. "I'm the biggest threat to you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fai's lecture was actually inspired by a prompt on CLAMPkink (in which Fai verbally teaches Sakura how to give a blowjob); poor Kurogane. ;) I imagine the song Fai was playing to be Yanni's Marching Season.
> 
> Question: I was just wondering if I should split chapter 7 into two parts, since it's 7900 words and the usual updates are around 4-6k words. Do you guys mind long chapter lengths? Short ones?
> 
> Hope you guys found as much amusement in this chapter as I did!


	6. Chapter 6

What began as a misestimate of his true fatigue led to Fai losing grip of his controlled doze. For the past week, he had barely slept, electing to rest in half-asleep trances that would keep him aloof of any dreams, if only so he could avoid the nightmares. He'd had them before, in Valeria on piles of corpses, in Celes on his too-wide bed, and in that one world where they'd walked nonstop for days and days in the windblown snow, and he'd given the princess his fur-trimmed cloak to keep her warm.

The nightmares, as always, began with Fai, the real Fai, shriveled and cradled in his arms with blood smeared all over Yuui's skin.

.

It is dim in here, the unending walls piled high with skewed corpses, dead people around them and under his feet, but all Yuui has eyes for is the limp form cradled in his arms, blood dripping slow down his forearms, sticking his prisoner's robe to his skin. "Fai," he calls hopelessly, shaking his twin in an attempt to wake him, because this can't be real, this has to be a nightmare— "Please, Fai, please talk to me!"

Fai opens his dead blue eyes then, looks straight at him as he rasps in his dead hoarse voice, "You killed me, Yuui. You're my brother and you sent me to my death." And the world around them is silent but for the howl of an icy gale through the window at the very top of the tower. The window is out of sight, and light barely trickles down between the stone walls, but Yuui has developed a keen sense of vision in the perpetual twilight of his dungeon, and he can see every single detail on Fai's broken body.

The prisoner's robe is worn thin and grey with grime; the hems are torn and he can feel Fai's bony broken ribs through the threadbare shift. Fai's hands are calloused but not bloody, because he's never had to scrabble up walls. His arms and legs are skinny and his body feels so weightless. Like all the magic in him has vanished. (And it has, because Fai is dead dead  _dead_.)

Fai smells like blood and dirt and clean snow, not like Yuui, who has spent spent months and years and decades sleeping and walking on dead people with their strange dead smells. Fai's hair is just like his, long and pale and matted, and Fai's face is sunken and shriveled—what Yuui probably looks like.

Except Fai's irises are grey and bleeding and bloodshot and he's reaching for Yuui, claw-like fingers that reach for his face and neck, and Yuui is struck immobile by grief and sorrow and guilt. He wants to die, he wants Fai to kill him and take his life back, but there is that old king again, the insane king who is rearing up before them with a dagger in his hand—

He plunges the glinting blade into his own neck and blood sprays out when he pulls the dagger free, teeth slicked red and thick liquid bubbling stickily out of the gash, walking ever closer to Fai and Yuui.

Yuui screams and screams and wishes for it all to end, but it doesn't, the king is stepping ever closer with his dripping blade as he prepares to carve himself up—

.

"Fai-san! Fai-san!"

Fai jerked awake to frantic hands shaking roughly at his arm. His heart smashed into his ribs like a rabid beast clawing to get out. For a horrific moment, he found that he couldn't breathe right, that his vision was misty and his nose was clogged somehow, and he was trembling with the anticipation of more blood, and more dead people—

Except there were none. It was dark and shadowy, but the lines around him were clean. Pricks of light glowed from nearby high-rise buildings, and the dashboard in front of him was soaked in pale green moonlight, like the rest of the empty rooftop, with the black car nearby and the empty stairwell on the far side.

He unstuck his tongue from the roof of his mouth and gasped for breath, took in the haunted green eyes peering down at him in concern.

The princess. Sakura-chan. Right.

"I'm— I'm fine," he croaked, chest heaving as he reached up to swipe at the ticklishness on his cheeks. The back of his hand came away wet.

"Are you sure?" she asked, still crouched over him in her seat, hair mussed but eyes alert. "You sounded like you were in pain— I'm so glad you're awake, Fai-san, I didn't know if you were going to wake up."

At the note of uncertainty in her voice, he tried pulling a reassuring smile onto his face. "I'm fine now, Sakura-chan," he told her weakly, breathing through his mouth. "Thank you."

"I'm glad," she sighed, and the next thing he knew, she had thrown herself onto his chest, small hands clasping his shoulders to pull him close while she tipped her face up and kissed his cheek gently. "My— My brother gave me a hug when I had nightmares," she whispered quietly in his ear, "It helps me feel safe... and I thought you might need that right now."

Unbidden, his memories stirred; he recalled first Ashura (who sat next to him on the too-wide bed in his too-large room and held him close with that kindly smile), and then, faintly, his mother, with her soft flaxen hair and dark, warm eyes, who had cradled his head to her bosom and pulled both him and his brother into her embrace. (That had been before she was driven insane, a great while ago.) He remembered being loved, just for a little bit in his (too-long) life.

A hollow ache peeled open in his chest, like a yawning gap, and he gave a choked sob. Sakura didn't seem the least bit surprised; rather, she crawled clumsily over to sit in his lap and draw him upright, pressing his face into her thin, narrow shoulder. "Shh," she soothed, stroking his hair. "It'll be all right."

How she, the girl who had lost all her memories and was but a mere clone, could tell him things would turn out all right was beyond him—but he was just a pawn and nearly worthless, and he would take his comfort where he could find it, be it in Kurogane or Sakura, enemy or half-real they might be. Nothing was all right.

Fai lifted leaden arms to gingerly hold the girl to himself. The dream had felt too real— _Fai_  had felt too real in his arms, bleeding and still warm—and the memories of the dead king, the alive one, and his mother had all served to grind every bit of his heart to shreds.  _I don't deserve to live,_  he wanted to tell Sakura, but she was warm and kind, and she didn't need to hear things like that, not while she still had freedom over her thoughts and movements. She didn't need to suffer what he did.

So he settled for burying those thoughts away, old ghosts and new fears alike, blinking back his tears until his pulse had calmed, and he could breathe somewhat. The princess stayed silent the entire time, stroking delicate fingers through his hair.

Having Sakura in his arms grounded him. She was something he could focus on, someone alive and pure and lovable. He remembered her smiles, even if he couldn't clutch her close like he wanted, couldn't risk breaking her when she was such a fragile, lithe thing. His arms ached with the strain. (He thought of red eyes, warm lips, knew the comfort  _he_  could provide. Fai swallowed dryly.)

At length, he unwrapped himself from Sakura, and gave her a watery smile. "Thank you, Sakura-chan," he whispered, voice rough around the edges. "You needn't have done that."

She sat back in his lap to study him, warmth radiating from her features. "You needed it, Fai-san. That's all that matters."

He swallowed past the lump in his throat when she crawled back into her reclined seat and lay down, reached over to brush the strands of hair away from her face. "You're a good person," he murmured, chest tight and heavy with the desire to give the girl everything he had if it would make her happy. "I don't tell you that often enough."

"You don't have to," she replied in kind, her alertness already dulling with sleep. "You're a good person yourself, Fai-san."

He was glad that her eyes were drifting shut when he grimaced. It felt like he was betraying her with his lies—but what was there to betray when he had joined their travelling group, first and foremost, as his master had ordered?

Afraid of falling into deep slumber again, Fai slipped out of the car when he was certain that the princess was sound asleep.

The night air was cool, as it always was, and the wind didn't gust across the rooftop on a shorter building like this one, not when there were taller tower blocks around. Instead, the breeze sifted gently through his hair, reminiscent of Sakura's fingers. He leaned heavily on his walking stick and wandered to the hip-high concrete wall edging the rooftop, looked past the insignificant barrier warding from a steep fall. From his vantage point, he could see the sodium-orange specks of streetlamps on the roads far below, the matchbox cars and ant-sized people still about at this time of night.

If he were to topple over the edge...

No, this life was his brother's, and he had sworn to return it.

A quiet  _click_  sounded from the direction of the cars. Fai blinked, turned his head just so he caught the driver's side door of the black car swinging open.

He gulped, returned to staring at the roads far below. Had Kurogane heard all of his exchange with Sakura? The ninja knew too much as it was, and... He felt the quiet sweep of the other man's presence drawing closer, footsteps nearly inaudible on the hard concrete rooftop. Was Kurogane tasked with killing him, as well? Fai felt a wry smile twitch at his lips; the warrior would sooner cut him down than have to suffer through keeping a secret like that. Besides, he was a pawn of Yuuko's, and Yuuko had been nothing but nice to them. Or would she turn Kurogane against him at some point? If the man could even be convinced to do her bidding.

"What's so funny?" Kurogane stepped up beside him along the low wall, setting a bottle of wine and two sake cups down on the narrow concrete surface between them.

"You could have scared me, Kuro-tan—" Fai sang lightly, and paused the instant he found the other's offering of liquor. He brightened; the grin on his mouth was definitely not quite as fake now. "Wine? I thought you didn't have any left!"

There was a pause before the ninja replied, "I was saving it for a time of need."

"And this is a time of need?" Fai asked, feeling as if he should really shut up, because he couldn't quite read what Kurogane was trying to say. For all that the other man was like an open book, he did strange things; or at least, he possessed reactions and motivations that Fai didn't see himself capable of evoking. "Why, is Kuro-sama the romantic type? Is this a manly occasion to admire the moon and drink wine?"

"You're an idiot," Kurogane muttered without looking at him. He reached over, cracked the seal on the bottle and poured them each a shot. "Whatever it was, you even woke the kid up earlier."

Fai froze with the sake cup halfway to his lips. Even Syaoran? He hadn't meant to let his guard that far down, damn it! His fingers tightened around the cup; he threw the wine back without tasting it, focusing instead on the way it burned down his throat. "I, well..."

(He really was such a worthless person.)

"It was because of today, wasn't it. Whatever that guy said to you." Kurogane poured himself more wine, sipped slowly at his share.

Fai hid his grimace, set his cup down and leaned over the edge of the wall, looking away so the other man couldn't see what he was thinking. "Either way, we shouldn't stay too long in this place."

"You received a threat?"

When he turned back, Kurogane was studying him, calculating and intent. Fai swallowed, avoided meeting his eyes. "Who knows?"

"If you didn't, you wouldn't have screamed and woken the kids up," Kurogane said shortly. "You were talking to yourself in your sleep."

His blood chilled; how much had they all heard? "Oh, really?" he deflected, tone light, trying hard to hide any knowledge, any involvement. Not for the first time, Fai wished he were someone other than himself. (But he was already Fai, not Yuui—there wasn't anyone else he could be.) "You know how dreams are," he continued dismissively, trying to forget the blood and accusations that Kurogane's words were dredging up. "Dreams are not all that important. Everyone gets nightmares sometimes—even you, I bet."

The larger man did not reply immediately. They downed another few shots between themselves; Kurogane turned to sit on the rough concrete floor, leaning his back against the low wall. Reluctantly, Fai followed suit, though he kept a telling distance between them. They were probably being watched.

"Dreams can be important," the ninja said at length, looking up at the half-moon hanging in the sky. "I know of a dream-walker."

"How are they important?" This information wasn't quite personal; Fai thought he could allow himself to indulge. He couldn't see how his own dreams would be significant, besides, if all they did was remind himself, time and again, of the past. He did well enough remembering his debts on a daily basis. (And he hoped Syaoran was heeding his advice to not dwell on painful memories.)

"For one, they tell about the future." Kurogane was still staring at the moon; Fai followed his gaze, thought about the triple moons of Celes. (They had all been different colors and sizes, and the Celesians didn't speak of twins and ill fortune.) Ashura-ou had briefly mentioned traveling between dreams; he'd seen the horrors in Fai's. "A person shouldn't take dreams lightly."

"Well, I'm no dream-walker," he informed the other man airily. (The real Fai was in a better place; they would never return to Valeria. Valeria had twin moons, but they only presented together in the sky every few decades. When they did, they were both blue.) "So you needn't worry about some tragedy befalling us because of my dreams, Kuro-rin."

"I didn't say they would," Kurogane snapped, albeit without heat. "All I'm saying is, you shouldn't be so quick to brush them off."

"Hyuu, Kuro-pon is the expert on dreams." Fai rested his weight against the concrete wall, exhaled. "And lots of other things, like sword-fighting and being a good daddy to the children."

A low growl issued from the ninja; he flicked his gaze towards Fai and glowered. "I'm not a daddy."

"So you keep insisting," he retorted, feeling much at ease now that the focus of their conversation was on the other man instead. "Syaoran-kun looks up to you a lot, you know, you did so well training him in Outo." At Kurogane's raised brow, he continued, "His reaction times have improved. I saw him shielding Sakura-chan from a stray flying rock the other day."

"Mm."

There was no outward evidence that the ninja had any reaction to his compliment, save for a little proud quirk at the corner of his lips. It made Fai warm and a little shivery, that smile, and he tried not to think too much about it. On impulse, because they were drinking, and because there wasn't much to lose anyway, he babbled, "I bet your father would be proud of you, Kuro-daddy."

Where that came from, he didn't know, but Kurogane had whipped around to stare at him in the next heartbeat.

Those red eyes were fierce and dangerous, and more than a little incensed. "You don't know him," the ninja breathed. His fingers twitched; Fai was vaguely glad that they'd emptied the wine bottle and that Kurogane had set his sake cup down—it would be an unnecessary expenditure to have to replace their drinking cups. "Drop the subject."

"Why?" he probed. Adrenaline pumped into his veins; he was, suddenly, very curious about the ninja's limits—just how far would Kurogane go to strike him down? What was he up against in the event that he needed to kill the other man? "Was he a bad father?"

Souhi flashed out in an arc of gleaming silver, whistled through the air. Fai sprung backwards with his walking cane, leaned back to avoid a horizontal cut, then sidestepped a diagonal swing, and leaped back a few more paces. This was easy. This was far better than him lingering on thoughts about his master, or his employer, or even either of his kings or his brother. Kurogane probably needed practice with his sword, anyway.

So Fai continued to rile the ninja up, with taunts like "You needn't be so angry, Kuro-tan," and "Did you have bad upbringing? You seem awfully short-tempered," and little insults that kept either of them from thinking too much. They danced around the rooftop, hopping over the makeshift kitchen and dining table and circled the cars. Throughout, Kurogane refrained from using any of his energy-based attacks, which was just as well, since they didn't need the authorities cracking down on a pointless fight like this.

It was on their second circuit around the rooftop, feet away from the stairwell, that Fai decided he'd had enough of a prelude—assuming that Kurogane would ever forget the urge to decapitate him. (That was fine, he would rather be distant from the man.) When Kurogane sheathed his sword, and came at him with bare fists, Fai shifted his feet so the ninja slammed him into the ajar door of the stairwell with enough force that it banged against the wall, the clatter echoing down the stairs. He stumbled backwards; Kurogane pinned him roughly to the far wall, knocking every bit of breath from his lungs.

He wondered briefly if Kurogane would be his match in a fight to the death, and whether they would die together like he planned and failed to with Ashura.

"You," Kurogane snarled, breath hot on his face, red eyes glowing in the semi-darkness of the stairwell, "You don't know anything about my father."

"I don't," Fai agreed. He didn't lower his eyes, however, merely met the other's stare. Heat radiated off Kurogane's skin; the sharp scent of sweat filled his nostrils, heady and distracting. "What will you do about me, Kuro-sama?"

It was the one nickname that Kurogane didn't mind quite as much, and in the next instant, the man had hooked his foot around the door and kicked it shut, so they were encased in pitch darkness, with their breathing the only sound that he could hear in this echoing space. His blood thrummed in his veins.

"You," the warrior growled, towering over him, one hand twisted in his shirt and the other pressed against the wall, "I should punch you senseless for slandering my father."

Yet for all his blows, he hadn't really landed a hit on Fai, not even when Fai had left openings in the last few seconds leading up to this.

"He wouldn't want you to," Fai deduced quietly on an exhale. Kurogane's arm was firm and solid across his chest, and every bit as lethal. (His heart pumped a little harder.) "Not many can claim to have kindness like that," he continued, watching the larger man with eyes that had been trapped in perpetual darkness. The ninja blinked in surprise. "He's a good man. I see that now."

Kurogane made a little noise in his throat, one that was a cross between a choke and a rumble, and the next sensations Fai knew were of himself being pressed into the wall, roughly, and warm lips crashing onto his in a ferocious kiss.

This wasn't quite the interaction he had anticipated, but Fai wasn't one to care, not right now, when large fingers released his shirt and plowed through his hair, hauling him forward. It was a kiss that rendered him breathless, and all he could do was hang on, when Kurogane did familiar, good things things with his tongue that set him quivering, sent a bolt of heat straight down, and he moaned.

In this tight space, where the air was heavy and difficult to breathe, there was only him and Kurogane, and the thick thigh shoved between his and hands yanking at his shirt, his belt. Fai reveled in it, chased the sensations and whined when the other man ground briefly against him, arching forward for more. His own hands scrabbled at Kurogane's clothes, reached down to squeeze that tight ass, and there was no pausing for air when Kurogane shoved his groin against Fai's. He jerked, groaned, reached down to free the other of his confines, because the texture of skin on skin was so much more titillating than grinding through layers of fabric.

His pants came unzipped with a harsh rasp; Kurogane cupped his hardening flesh roughly, and he hissed, rocked into that warm palm, whimpered when the kiss broke and there were lips and tongue along his jaw, licking and sucking beneath his ear, down his throat. Somehow, he'd managed to shove the other's lower garments down to his knees, and the press of hot, silky skin against his wrenched a gasp from his throat. He couldn't think, could only feel and plead for more.

(For all that Kurogane was his enemy, and for all the distance he tried to put between them, it was in the arms of this very man where he felt the safest. It wasn't a reassuring notion at all.)

* * *

The following days seemed to pass quickly, yet they dragged along at the same time. Nothing was mentioned of Fai's nightmare; he returned with much trepidation to work, and Taran seemed unaware of his duplicity, committed right on the same day Fai received the warning from his master. (Perhaps it was seen as a method to wear down the warrior's defenses?)

Where possible, Fai avoided Kurogane and retired early to bed. (Sometimes Sakura was the one who turned in late; she had been experimenting with baking little pre-made snacks and pastries in the toaster oven, and Syaoran often stayed up to help her with them.) Sometimes there wasn't a choice but for Fai to talk to the ninja, and strike annoying bits of banter between his casual chatting with the children. Kurogane preferred to be quiet, after all, and Syaoran mostly only spoke when he had something of interest to say. (Lately, he'd had his nose in a history book he'd borrowed from the library.)

Mokona noticed.

She hopped onto Fai's shoulder close to the two-week mark of their stay, when he was parked by the car repair shop to drop Sakura off. Syaoran was waiting by the shop entrance—Kurogane had long since disappeared—and Sakura was poised by the open car door, peeking in expectantly. "Moko-chan, are you coming along?" she chirped. "We're going to be late!"

"Mokona will be right there!" the furry creature said sunnily, waving her stubby paws. "Go ahead first, Sakura!"

The princess blinked in mild surprise, bemused smile stretching her lips. With a curious glance at Fai, she nodded and waved at them. "Don't be long then!" she answered brightly, "I'll see you later, Fai-san!"

"Do your best, Sakura-chan!" he said and waved back. When the girl had turned away, he glanced at the magical construct on his shoulder, smiling benignly. "What did you want to talk about, Mokona?"

The creature seemed to droop then, and she tugged at one of her long ears. "Fai is lonely, aren't you?" she mumbled. Her entire face was pinched, and even her squinting eyes looked morose. "And scared. What Fai feels, Mokona feels it too."

He breathed a sigh at her revelation. She had shared about that ability of hers ever since Outo, and he didn't quite know what to make of it, for the most part. It was difficult to stop feeling so much, not with all the burdens he was carrying. Yet, Mokona never told anyone what he felt, and for that, he was grateful.

"Something happened between Fai and Kurogane, didn't it?" she whispered miserably. "Because of that, both of you are lonely."

Fai tried to shrug. "It isn't that bad, you know. Just something that sometimes happens between adults."

"But Mokona thinks you can help each other," she continued. "Sometimes Mokona feels it, when Fai is happy with Kurogane."

He couldn't help the heat that prickled at his cheeks. (But it wasn't as if Mokona would tease him, anyway. And it wasn't as if she knew his circumstances. He was most definitely not happy with the other man.)

"—Especially at night," she was saying, with stubby arms in the air, "It feels like a great wind, whoosh! And suddenly Fai and Kurogane are very happy with each other."

Fai couldn't speak for long moments, when he realized what exactly the creature was talking about. The skin on his face had to have been scorched off by now. "You aren't—" He swallowed, and tried again. "You aren't going to speak with Kuro-tan about this, are you, Mokona? He would never forgive you for it, you know. That big brute."

She looked a little uncertain. "But Mokona doesn't know how else to help."

He reached up to ruffle the fur on her head. "You don't have to. Sometimes the best way to help is by letting things run their course," he answered gently, and imagined Kurogane's beet-red face during a similar talk with their little companion. "Everything will be okay."

That was a blatant lie, though Mokona did not press the topic. "Okay," she relented, nodding, "Mokona understands. Just like with Syaoran and Sakura."

Fai felt like sinking into his seat for the second time. "Well," he tried to say with some semblance of cheer, "Don't you worry too much about it. I'll make some dessert tonight, okay?"

The creature cheered up then, lop ears perking at the mention of sweet treats. "Fai makes the best food," she sang, hopping off his shoulder. "Mokona wants chocolate cake!"

"I'll see what I can do," he promised, then watched as she leaped onto the windowsill, waving at him. "Have a good day with Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mokona, you troll. The Fai and Sakura scene was inspired by a prompt on clampkink. :) More action next chapter, and then we'll be taking a break from this series for a bit to visit the Horitsuba universe. :) Do you guys need warnings if sexual situations occur?


	7. Chapter 7

There was a slight static charge in the air when he breezed down into the food court at the basement of the mall, one that made the hair on his neck prickle and stand on end. Fai swallowed, darted his gaze around. The wait and kitchen staff seemed unaware of anything suspicious, if at all—they were moving about as usual, serving patrons and preparing food and managing the till.

This sensation was magic, an ominous presence, one that he'd felt before. Even if Outo had been a virtual reality, there was no mistaking that acrid bite of burnt incense, especially not when he'd died once being smothered by it. Fai winced.

If Seishirou was here, but not whoever he was looking for, then there was a very high chance that he would be after Sakura's feather, if just so his dimension crossing had not been an utter waste of effort. He knew the magic that feather possessed, after all—any power-hungry wizard would be an idiot to pass up on grabbing it.  _Fuck._

He shouldn't have let their travelling group linger for so long, not when they had already more than enough to pay for that feather.

With a bitten-down curse, Fai reached out with his senses—  _There._

Seishirou was heading upwards along the side of the building, instead of through the escalator stairwell. He had to have sensed Fai's appearance at this point, too, if Fai could trace him. Abruptly, the wizard turned on his heel and limped-sprinted up the escalator, for once glad that his long legs allowed him to skip a step on the moving stairs. Some of the food court staff called out to him in surprise; he ignored them, pressing his lips together as he kept track of the other wizard's location—Seishirou was still far ahead of him, and that was a man who would not falter at anything to retrieve what he wanted.

Collecting the memories was Syaoran's job, not Fai's. He almost wanted to stop and pretend he didn't know about any of this. There was no way he could stop Seishirou without using some sort of magic.

Yet, his gut twisted as he imagined the disappointment on the children's faces when they learnt that the feather had been snatched from beneath their very noses. And especially when he was in the very building it occurred. In that instant, Fai knew that he couldn't let them down, especially not when he was at fault for jeopardizing their mission like this.

He grit his teeth, pushed pulsing magic through his fingers, inscribed the rune for  _Jump_  on his thighs. It was but a mere fraction of his power, easily erased compared to the previous two instances, and gentle heat curled through his legs.

He leaped.

From the escalator onto the gleaming metal handrails around the central stairwell, then back on the escalator railings above and to the next floor, Fai made for the reflective marble tiles, throat working when he realized that he was on the same level as both the lingerie shop and Seishirou—just that the other man was on the far side of the mall, while he had the distinct advantage of distance.

His sprained ankle buckled beneath him; he swore, hauled himself up with the walking stick, and then ran flat out for the lingerie shop, pain spearing through his calf with each thud of his foot on hard tile. Magic pulsed from his opponent's direction; he grit his teeth, drew a weak barrier spell that would slow the other man down some. This was part of his mission too, wasn't it?

People were staring after him in shock—he ignored them all, pounded down the familiar, crammed corridors as the first blast of offensive magic shook the building.

Seishirou was closing in, fast.

Fai skidded the last stretches to the lingerie shop, could feel the warm glow of Sakura's feather within, almost in his grasp. He slammed the door open, searched out the sales assistant with his eyes. Shougo was not here today; in his place behind the cashier's counter was the Primera of this world, green hair coiffed prettily on her head. She jerked up from her seat when she saw him.

"I'm here for the feather," he panted, glancing straight at the curtain separating this side of the shop from the adult novelty products. "I promise I'll pay you back for it later—we made a reservation on it," he said in a rush, hurrying over to the curtains.

"Wait!" she yelped, scrambling to her feet. Her eyes flashed in outrage; Fai didn't care. "You can't just barge in like that—"

"There's a wizard out there after this," Fai interrupted without much grace. He swept the curtain aside, took a few steps into the narrow pink passageway, reaching up blindly and grabbing for the box with the feather. It glowed softly at him, white barbs so bright it was almost difficult to look directly at it. Fai tore the box open despite Primera's protests.

"I'll call the guards on you! This is theft!" she shrieked, blocking the little entryway with her slender form. "Shougo will come after you when—"

Fai grabbed the feather from its box and shoved it into his trouser pocket, then pulled an envelop from his other pocket, one that had all their earnings so far. "Take this," he said urgently, looking the woman hard in the eye to try and make her understand. "This is my down payment. I promise we'll be back with the balance."

"But—"

There was a crash just outside the shop. Magical energy thrummed; every nerve in his body was alight.

"Shh." He grabbed her arm, shoved the envelop in her hand, and threw her behind himself; she stumbled. "There's someone else after this feather," he continued lowly, speaking fast. "He's right outside. He'll kill you for it even if he doesn't have to. Lie low for a bit, please."

The shop door shattered in a cascade of glass and steel. Fai grit his teeth, fingers already scrawling another defensive spell to completion. This, he wrapped around the hidden room, before hurling himself out through the curtained doorway.

"Well, we meet again. Fai, wasn't it?"

The steady drawl sent a ripple of disgust down his spine; Fai rolled to his feet next to the cashier's counter, steadied himself with his walking cane.

Seishirou looked the same as he did since their last encounter, clothed in that ominous black coat with a long silver chain around his neck. His glasses were on; his right eye was dull, humming with traces of dimension-crossing magic. There was less energy in it now—an indication that he had spent some on traveling since they last met in Outo.

"It's an honor that you remember my name. I guess I ought to be glad that you didn't really kill me the last time," Fai said cheerfully, forced grin on his face. His heart pounded loudly in his chest. Despite how Outo wasn't part of reality, he still remembered, all too well, the agony of jarring claws burrowing into his throat, ripping his body apart. "That was a messy encounter, wasn't it, Seishirou-san?"

They were each powerful enough, confident enough that there was no need to begin the fight at once. The other man possessed less magic than him, however; Fai's curse had not activated yet. He took the opportunity to figure a way out.

"I see you're not above using your magic now," the other man returned, calm, dark eyes slowly gliding over his form and lingering at his feet. Fai suppressed a shudder. This man was nothing like Kurogane; his stare was slimy, and he smelled like incense Fai had encountered at a barren graveyard with Sakura and the rest. "Yet you still have the same injury—what a surprise."

"Well, I guess times have changed," he answered brightly, still watching Seishirou for any sign of movement. This shop was at the end of a corridor; the wall to his left was likely part of the building exterior. It would offer a safe passage out—

"If you don't mind, I'd like to have the feather," Seishirou said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes; his gaze trailed up to Fai's hips, where the feather glowed warm against his upper thigh. "It'll be such a waste of this trip if I left empty-handed. After all, you're aware that there are limits—"

"Neither of you is leaving with the feather!" Primera exclaimed shrilly from behind him. With a noisy clatter of metal links on rails, she ripped the curtain aside. Fai could have grimaced; his grin grew strained.

"Ah, what a delight." Seishirou's heavy scrutiny lit on the diminutive woman, and a low chill hummed through the air.

Primera stepped backwards, gulped noisily.

"I told you to stay back, Primera-san," Fai chided. If Kurogane were here, the merest glower would have kept her from making a squeak. "Kindly remain there, if you will."

The expression on Seishirou's face melted into one of smugness; he lifted his hand, and an ebony sword materialized within his palm. Its serpentine tail curled indolently around his arm. Primera gasped.

"A barrier to keep the girl safe," the other wizard began amiably, pleasant smile stretching across his face. "How very sweet of you. If you'd be so kind as to oblige me... I've been in such need of entertainment since that swordsman lost his killing intent."

"Haven't there been other worthier opponents?" Fai stepped forward to feint an interest in attacking. If his understanding of Syaoran's previous mentor held true, then Seishirou would not harm the shop owner as long as his desires were met.

Right now, those desires were a good fight—if Fai declined, the woman was at risk of being held hostage. If he lost...

Well, he would not lose. He couldn't die here.

"Unfortunately, there have not." Seishirou's smile grew wider. "I would be delighted to see what Syaoran's travelling companions are capable of, however. It would be so reassuring to see that he's in good hands."

Nauseousness murmured in Fai's gut.

"You really should have picked a better arena, Seishirou-san," he pointed out dryly. He raised his dominant hand, scrawled a single violet sigil that shot through the air and blasted an opening through the left wall. A shock wave surged through the shop and scattered neat stacks of lace undergarments, swiftly echoed by sunlit dust. Primera shrieked.

Fai squinted to see through fine debris; the black sword was headed for his throat in the next second. He kicked viciously at the ground to put distance between himself and the other man, barely avoiding each lethal swipe with a backward leap until he was teetering on the crumbling edge of concrete with a sharp fall down. (Cars streamed by mere stories below, and short high-rise buildings crowded around the mall.)

There was nowhere to go but backwards. He pushed magic into the fading jump spell in his thigh; it burned hot, and he kicked.

He felt himself soar through the crisp morning air over rush hour traffic; a warm breeze rushed through his hair and over his clothes. Seishirou appeared in the smoking hole amidst the dust and smoke, sword in hand.

Fai knew the exact moment his opponent caught sight of him, because the man sprang, ebony sword held sideways, and the sharp edge of the weapon melted into thin, streaming projectiles that hurtled towards Fai with devastating accuracy.

In midair, he had nothing to use to alter his trajectory.

He scrawled a flat barrier spell, stretched it wide in front of him, and the dark streams bounced uselessly off, before curving around his shield. Fai swore, landed hard on the rooftop of a building, bending his knees to absorb the impact. His ankle screamed in protest.

He ignored the injury (Kurogane was going to yell at him more), skipped further back just as the black missiles gouged ruts through the concrete rooftop, sending bits of grey material flying. Somehow those arrows reminded him of the projectiles he faced alongside the ninja in Nagare—was it a coincidence that Rondart and Seishirou were using the same sort of attacks?

(They really should have left here before today.)

Fai threw another barrier around himself, then flung a volley of charged lightning bolts towards Seishirou in a bid to send him away. Instead, all the other did was counter the attack with a swipe of his own sword and slip on his glasses, an amused smirk curving his lips.

Fai growled and cursed—this fight would draw the authorities in the next minute. It would require him expending unnecessary magic to lose his pursuer, and his car was on the other side of the building. If he could return the feather to Sakura, there would be little reason for Seishirou to remain. (It would be too much of a risk to fight the other man for the feather he currently possessed; besides, that was something Syaoran would want to reclaim with his own hands.)

Seishirou was relentless in his assault. He poured magic into the ebony sword; it glowed briefly for a second, and when he next struck, two of its missiles pierced Fai's shield with a shudder. One struck his shoulder; the other grazed his arm.

There was no time for surprise nor pain; with a shove on his walking cane, Fai twisted away from the arrows with a hiss, hot blood welling up from his injuries. He bit his lip hard, retraced the jump spell rune on his thigh, barely leaping clear of a flurry of arrows as they crashed into the patch of concrete where he stood a heartbeat ago. In the next moment, he was leaping towards the corner of the rooftop and clearing the low wall, pushing hard with his foot to cross the wide gap between buildings—only the tower block diagonally opposite was low enough to catch his descent.

Behind, Seishirou remarked placidly, his voice carrying over the distance, "I was expecting a decent fight, not some cat and mouse chase."

Slim black extensions of that sword followed him in close pursuit. Fai clenched his jaw, willing the momentum in his flight to carry him to his destination.

A sudden whirlwind of air came barreling down on him from up above; he hissed, felt the forward velocity of his leap dwindle to nothing as he was buffeted towards the ground below. He brought a surge of magic to his fingertips, ready to draw a summoning spell to pull himself away from the artificial wind—

There was a roar from underneath, vaguely familiar, and before he could really comprehend the situation, he crashed clumsily onto the bulbous hood of a black car, streaked with thick red stripes. Fai hissed, gasping for breath; inertia forced him against the acrylic windscreen.

"Get in, you idiot!" came a more recognizable shout.

He scrabbled at the smooth paint of the car for some sort of purchase as it flew forward. Red eyes glowered at him from within.

"Kuro-pon?" he spluttered, and just as soon grinned in relief. "You sure took your time!"

"Get the fuck in!" Kurogane was looking up through the windshield, and into his various mirrors. "I'm not catching you if you roll off, damn it!"

Fai had barely obeyed with fingers curling into the window frame when the vehicle lurched to the side, narrowly avoiding the same black sword-missiles that had chased Fai off the roof. He yelped, felt himself slither dangerously close to the edge. Sweat slicked his palms. "Kuro-rin, I can't get in when your driving is so awful!"

"Then do something about that bastard and get him off my back!" the ninja snapped. His voice was muffled in the wind whistling by Fai's ears.

He could see the dark shape of Seishirou following them from rooftops, though they were gaining ground. This would not stop a magical attack, however—and his wariness proved itself right when an ashen bolt of  _something_  came streaking at them. Fai gripped the window frame tight, flicked his fingers to release another string of violet runes—a different matrix this time, one that protected against the strongest magics he could think of, because this wasn't himself he was defending anymore, it was Kurogane.

Gleaming curlicues grew and closed themselves around the car, resonating with magic once the barrier was complete, much like the one he'd saved Sakura with in Nagare. Kurogane swore. The energy stream crashed into the shield in the next instant, sending a low reverberation through the barrier as it was deflected. In the distance, police sirens blared.

"Can't you make this invisible so I can see through it?" the ninja groused.

"Beggars can't be choosers, Kuro-sama!" he retorted, latched his free hand back onto the window frame.

The car rolled onto its side in a sudden sharp turn, leaving Fai hanging on by his fingertips for dear life. He screwed his eyes shut against the dizzying sense of vertigo, then snapped them open again, in case Seishirou was still behind them. The nauseating pulse of magic was steadily growing weaker now, and Fai exhaled in relief—as long as Kurogane was around, there wouldn't be any more need for him to dip into his magical reserves. Nonetheless, he kept some magic ready, just in case.

"I think we've lost him, Kuro-wan," he said weakly, air rushing into his mouth. "But you drive terribly."

Kurogane clicked his tongue; the black car gradually slowed, and Fai found that they were in a familiar part of the island. (There was the little grocery store they bought their breakfasts and dinners from, and the drab hotel they stayed at on their first night here.)

"Get us to the children, please," he said weakly, pulling a vague smile across his face.

"You're going to explain this," the ninja muttered, glowering at him through the windshield. "Seems you can't be left alone by yourself without trouble following."

"All I did was run into Seishirou-san," Fai protested. He turned his face away; the other man was exceedingly good at reading him despite his best efforts.

"The feather?" Kurogane pressed.

"Safe." He could still feel Seishirou's presence from across the island, and focused on it, allowing himself to relax a little when the signature did not seem to be growing stronger. "But we need to sell the cars soon—Sakura-chan will be upset enough as it is. I left our money at the shop."

Red eyes flickered over his prone body then, fixing on a spot at his hip, and Fai gulped. The feather was probably protruding out of his pocket. Kurogane growled. "You're an idiot."

"I believe we've already established that," he answered breathily, scanning the skies in case they were being pursued by the police or Seishirou. (Strangely enough, they weren't.) "Hyuu! Well done, Kuro-myu, you've even left the police behind."

Kurogane made a rude noise. "If you didn't get yourself into crap like that, then I wouldn't even have to rescue your sorry ass."

"How did you even know to come?" Fai frowned, looked back at his companion. If his riding on the hood of the car was strange, neither of them was saying a word about it. "You couldn't have known that anything was happening from the port."

"Overheard a couple of guys talking about an explosion. We can see the mall from the port."

"Surely it would have been a coincidence if I was involved."

Kurogane narrowed his eyes. "You heard the witch. There aren't coincidences. 'Sides, weird things happen because of the feather. Thought you weren't an idiot, mage."

He grinned wide at that. "Is Kuro-puu implying that I'm smart?" he crowed, and the wonder on his face grew when he realized that there wasn't any way Kurogane could've made it over to the mall without rushing at some point. "You ran for your car, didn't you. When you heard about the explosion."

The ninja wasn't looking at him. "I just happened to be nearby," he muttered.

"Kuro-daddy is a giant soft-hearted man!" Fai sang, all the better to leave their previous discussion behind. "He cares for all of us!"

"Shut up! I'll roll you off otherwise," the man threatened; red tinted the tips of his ears. They were close enough to the repair shop by now, however, and Fai grinned triumphantly at him, then pushed off from the car just as it pulled to a stop along the side of the building.

His walking stick had been lost somewhere during the fray, Fai realized belatedly, when he put weight on his injured ankle and it gave out beneath him once again. He flailed for a long moment, trying to retain his balance.

Kurogane snorted derisively, cut the engine and slammed the door, then hauled him up by the arm. "Can't leave you alone for a second. Idiot."

Fai's huff of laughter was self-deprecating (his stomach gave a little squeeze), and he patted Kurogane on the chest. "That's because I have you to depend on!"

Crimson eyes glanced sidelong at him; Kurogane did not speak, and Fai gulped.

"I think we shouldn't have Sakura-chan absorb the feather right away." He reached for the source of magic in his pocket, leaning heavily on Kurogane as the larger man dragged him over to the shop entrance. "I have a feeling she might want to be awake when we visit Primera-san."

"What do you suggest, then?"

By this point, they were in full view of the occupants in the repair shop garage, and Fai grinned dazzle-bright at the trio of people (and a Mokona) crowded over an open car hood in greasy overalls. "Sakura-chan!" Fai attempted to wave, but winced when his shoulder throbbed, blood seeping through the fresh wound there. "Kuro-tan and I have come for a visit!"

"Fai-san?" The princess looked up just as her companions did, surprise flickering through their features. "Your shoulder—"

"Mekyo!" Mokona chirped on Syaoran's shoulder, eyes snapping open. "Mokona senses the feather!"

Both Sakura and Syaoran gasped while Yukito stared at them all in vague bemusement; Fai smiled cheerily, tugged the glowing feather out of his pocket. "There was a bit of trouble at the mall, so I took the liberty of retrieving the feather first," he said quickly before the children could look too excited—he didn't want to disappoint them by hiding the inevitable truth.

"Unfortunately, I'd only managed to pay for it with the cash I had on hand. Kuro-rin and I will be going to sell the cars now and then head to the mall with the rest of the payment. Would you like to come along?"

"Of course we would!" Sakura told him earnestly. She glanced at Syaoran, shared a nod with him, then grimaced apologetically at Yukito. "I'm afraid that Syaoran-kun and I will have to leave so soon in the day, Yukito-san."

"That's all right," the mild-mannered mechanic answered. "I understand that this is something important you both have to see to."

"Thank you very much," Syaoran said gratefully, giving his employer a shallow bow. "We're sorry for the inconvenience caused, Yukito-san. Please convey our apologies to Touya-san too, if possible."

Yukito waved them along with a warm smile. Fai grinned, herded the children towards the car, inwardly cringing at the curiosity brimming on their faces. "It's a long story," he sang, "why don't I explain it all when we've got this settled?"

Kurogane was watching him as well, though with an expression that promised there was no way he'd get off the hook without sharing the details.

Fai sighed to himself. He wished he wouldn't have to—but when did things ever go his way?

* * *

In the end, they sold the cars after a couple of trips to the mall parking lot (one to deposit the kids by the powder-blue car, and one to fetch Fai, who dodged any attempt Kurogane made to interrogate him about Seishirou). The cars had gone for less than the quote Fai obtained the day after they arrived—there were visible, sullen dents in the hood of the black car from when he had fallen into it less than an hour prior. Fai reassured the boy and his princess that there was still enough cash remaining to pay for the feather.

The mage did not protest when Kurogane forced them all on a detour, first to purchase a new walking stick, then a hooded jacket not unlike his robe from Celes.

And just as he'd suspected, photos of Fai and Seishirou were plastered all over the mall's brightly-lit signage, screen captures from various security feeds. There were even short, soundless clips of Primera's dramatic recount of the attack, with a running line of text scrolling across the bottom of the videos.

"Looks like Fai-mommy's popular!" the blond exclaimed, falsely bright, head and hands tucked deep into his new jacket. Kurogane grit his teeth. Seishirou had not gone easy on him both today and in Outo—the fact that Fai carried two bloody injuries now more than spoke for itself. But Fai was still only giving them vague explanations about what had transpired, feeding the children just enough of  _Well, I saw that Seishirou-san was headed for the feather and I convinced Primera-san to part with it early_  to avoid being questioned further.

Kurogane wasn't buying it. Why would he risk his safety just for the feather, when he wouldn't before?

"Seishirou-san—is he still here?" Syaoran asked. Determination and concern ran in a low undercurrent beneath his words.

Fai paused for a moment as they rode the escalators up through the central well of the mall. (There had been fewer shoppers and more wary guards around, and the mage had to enter the building from a different floor altogether. How he slipped past the guards, Kurogane would never know.) "No, I don't believe he's here anymore, Syaoran-kun," he answered quietly. "He likely left when Mokona took the feather into storage."

The boy nodded, digesting the information; Fai turned to Sakura. "I'd like to see if we can spend some of that money in the shop on things you might need." When the princess flushed, Fai patted her lightly on the shoulder. "You know, on practical clothes, if possible."

Kurogane snorted. "That damn goggles guy was adamant that the feather only came free when we bought crap from the inner room."

Fai shrugged, grinned down at him. "We do have the feather in our hands now. Surely that gives us some bargaining power."

For all that the idiot was wily with his charms, he hadn't had much luck where it came to haggling in this world, so Kurogane wasn't waiting with bated breath to see how this would unfold.

The cramped, white-tiled corridor leading to Primera's Intimates was a mess in two different places. For the most part, the debris had been swept to the side or cleared, though there still was a thin layer of dust under their feet as they made their way to where the glass-and-metal door used to be.

Kurogane blinked at the interior of the shop; Sakura gasped. Where there used to be neat stacks of undergarments and mannequins arranged on pedestals, half the clothes on display was now strewn across the floor. Most things were covered in dust, and there was a gaping hole in the wall to the right, through which he could see the adjacent building and bright blue sky. Fai was hovering towards the back of their group, his expression shuttered.

"Excuse me," Sakura called hesitantly into the empty shop. "Is anyone here?"

A dark-haired head popped up from behind a table. Recognition flickered across Shougo's face; he frowned. "Ah, it's you guys."

From the corner of his eye, Kurogane watched as Fai drew a a deep breath, then pulled his hood back, face plastered with a grimace-tempered smile. He stepped through the door. "Ah, Shougo-san," the blond greeted with a small wave. "Is Primera-san around? I would like to apologize for the state of the shop—"

The sales assistant stood, stopped Fai's speech with a slight shake of his head. "She's downstairs with the reporters, but no, you don't have to apologize. She told me what happened."

"In that case—" Fai leaned heavily on his walking stick, tugged the envelope of cash from his pocket. "We'd just like to make sure that the promise is kept. I told her we'd return to pay the balance for the feather."

"We weren't certain if you'd be back," Shougo began, though he made no move to accept the envelope. Kurogane noted that he was covered with dust and looked a little worn, but still sharp-eyed and not at all hostile, considering how the shop looked as if a destructive gale had swept through. "But we did discuss the possibility that you would. On hindsight, she admitted that you did save her from the other guy.

"So, we agreed that if you were to return, we wouldn't press charges against you," the man continued. "But we'd have to revise the terms of the purchase to cover the damages we've incurred in the shop, you understand."

"His picture's still all over," Kurogane pointed out, jerking a thumb in Fai's direction.

Shougo looked faintly chagrined. "That's actually the doing of the mall administration—I'm sure you've seen the damage outside the shop."

Fai looked around at their traveling group, met Kurogane's eyes, before turning back to Shougo. "That's fine. We're prepared to accept just the feather for the original amount."

"Can't do that. We'd still have to sell you something," Shougo pointed out. He brushed himself off, walked over to take the envelope from Fai. "But I'm open to negotiations."

There was a brief round of discussion, which concluded as such: of the six thousand minbi's worth of goods they initially had to purchase, four thousand would go to the shop repairs, a thousand could come from the sale of clothes from the public-facing side of the shop, and the last thousand had to comprise of purchases from the adult section. On top of that, they had to help tidy the chaos of clothes that was still on the floor.

"Go on, Sakura-chan," Fai said softly to the princess, giving her a slight nudge. "Pick some things out. If you can't decide and Syaoran-kun isn't able to give you much of an input, I'm always happy to help!"

The girl flushed to the roots of her hair, and so did Syaoran. Fai merely gave her a catlike smile, and turned her towards the section of the shop that was relatively neater. "Kuro-rin, Syaoran-kun, why don't you help tidy the floor?" he chirped. "I'll just be over here with Sakura-chan!"

"So will Mokona!" the pork bun trilled on Fai's shoulder.

Kurogane glared at him. "Can't you do some actual work for once, instead of slacking off?"

The blond grinned slyly, stuck his injured leg out. "You can't possibly expect an invalid to keep bending over, can you?"

It probably wasn't what the idiot intended (or perhaps it was), but Kurogane whipped around to hide the heat prickling on his cheeks anyway. He stalked to the other end of the shop. "Whatever."

Fai snickered behind him.

Syaoran wasn't much better at keeping the flush off his face, Kurogane was gratified to note, when they began picking up lacy scraps of panties, shaking them out, and folding them into little rectangles. Shougo returned to the spot they'd found him, and the trio worked silently for the better part of twenty minutes, while Fai, Sakura and Mokona conversed in muted tones across the room.

The mess had almost been entirely cleared when Fai called, "Kuro-pon!"

"What?" he snapped, looking up with a glower.

"Do you think Fai-mommy will look good in this?" The blond was holding a white lace thong against his hips, his eyebrows waggling and an inane smile plastered across his face.

Kurogane exploded.

"That's women's underwear, you twit!" he snapped, heat surging into his face with indignation that the mage would ask this of him, that he would do so with every one of their companions within earshot. And also because he could very well imagine Fai in it, and that particular mental image was in no way revolting. He bristled at himself. "Of all the stupid things you can ask," Kurogane seethed, blinked rapidly to rid the picture that had somehow glued itself to the back of his eyelids. "That moron has no shame."

"I had shame once," Fai supplemented cheerily, despite how quietly he thought he'd spoken those words. Sakura was standing next to him, a bundle of garments in her hand and utter mortification on her face.

"I'll make sure both your legs are broken," Kurogane growled, making to stand. "You'll be stuck so long in a wheelchair you'll regret it—"

"Are you guys going to pick out what you're buying from the other room?" Shougo nodded towards the curtain next to the cashier's counter, effectively ending his tirade.

Kurogane remembered the rows and shelves of lewd products, and froze. He didn't want to look at Fai, all of a sudden. The lace thong had been one thing, but going into a room full of sexual aids with the sort of history between them?

"Nothing struck me in particular the last time," Fai said thoughtfully. He added the white thong to Sakura's pile of clothes, placed Mokona on her shoulder, before hobbling over to the curtain. "But I'll look again just to be sure."

Instinct told him that he'd regret allowing Fai to make that particular purchase alone. Kurogane swore under his breath, followed the blond down the narrow passageway into the adults-only segment of the store.

"Hyuu, I didn't think Kuro-wanwan was excited about this," Fai remarked as he paused at the end of the corridor, a little twitch tugging on his lips.

"I'm not," Kurogane snapped. "I'm just here to make sure you don't... get anything indecent."

"I'm the purest of the pure, Kuroi, you're hurting my feelings."

"Fuck you."

Fai coughed lightly, limped into the store to examine the products more closely. It was far neater here—none of the things on the wall had fallen off, and even the phallic products were sitting neatly on the shelves, as if there hadn't just been a hurricane ripping through the other half of the store.

"There was a barrier around here," he concluded aloud. "You did this?"

The mage hummed, but said nothing to provide any affirmation. "Look at those ropes, Kuro-pon! I think they might come in handy—don't you?"

Kurogane narrowed his eyes at the coils of smooth, satiny jute in a corner, turned away in annoyance. Trust Fai to shut up where it mattered. He left the idiot to wander through the cramped spaces, cast his attention over the shelves closest to himself. In one rattan basket next to a pile of clothes, there was a collection of small metal weapons. He picked a highly stylized dagger up, ran his thumb across the gleaming knife edge, and scoffed at its bluntness. These were mere toys, not anything useful that he could fight with. The dagger returned to nest with its counterparts.

A neat row of books on the bottommost shelf aroused his curiosity, however. He recognized the gleaming, colorful spines and ink-speckled tops of manga, crouched to pull a tome out. Instead of a scantily-clad woman on the cover, however, there was a bare-chested man, and the block-like characters on the edges of the cover tried to tempt him with announcements about the latest "boys-love" stories.

Kurogane dithered for a moment, then flipped the book open.

It was some sort of story about teachers in a school—there was a gym teacher, and a chemistry teacher who seemed far too cheerful for his liking. The chemistry teacher was conferring with the director of the school (a witch-like character if he ever saw one), and a few pages later, the gym and chemistry teachers had somehow ended up in an apartment together, and were quickly divesting each other of their clothes.

What followed was very explicit—imagery he did not need right now—and Kurogane snapped the book shut with a bitten-off curse. No, he didn't need anything from this place.

He eased the book back onto its shelf. Fai was still wandering around the room, coil of rope slung around one arm while he picked slender glass sculptures off their shelves and examined them against the light.

"I wonder what this is for," he purred in a tone that suggested he already knew. "What do you think, Kuro-rin?"

Kurogane glared at him and very deliberately focused on getting out of the room. "Don't care. I'm leaving."

That seemed to suit Fai just fine—the wizard spent another five minutes poking around the products, while Kurogane stalked out and glowered at everyone who dared look up at him (in particular, Mokona, who was experimenting with speaking in their different voices). When Fai eventually made his way out,he was dangling a set of gleaming, clinking handcuffs from a finger, on top of the rope he'd expressed interest in.

"Sorry," he told Shougo not-so-apologetically, "I couldn't find anything else we might need in there."

"What about I pick some things out for you?" The sales assistant glanced between them, and smirked. "Our customers say I have a knack for choosing the right things."

It was enough to set alarm bells screeching in Kurogane's head, but he'd had his gander in the room and found nothing of use. And the money had to be spent.

"Go ahead," Fai responded cheerily, setting his selection on the cashier's counter. "Sakura-chan, have you got everything you might need?"

"I'll be right back," Shougo announced when the princess hurried over.

"Do you think these are all right?" Sakura asked the wizard worriedly, when she gently placed her pile of garments on the counter. Kurogane mostly saw opaque pieces in the stack, sturdy material that should hold up to all the traveling they did. "I felt bad that these are all ladies' clothes..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "But I found some that don't look too girly, in your size and Kurogane-san's and Syaoran-kun's, so if there's ever an emergency, we'd have these, at least..."

A blinding grin erupted on the blond's visage; he reached up and ruffled the princess's hair. "You're so kind to think of us, Sakura-chan! I'm sure Kuro-sama and Syaoran-kun will appreciate it as well. Won't you, Kuro-chan?"

Kurogane harrumphed, looked away. It wasn't as if he'd need underwear so desperately that he'd settle for women's clothing, but he wasn't going to have the princess upset on his account. The kid was fidgeting awkwardly to the side. "Whatever."

Shougo emerged from the hidden room some time later with an armful of things, that he set on the counter next to Fai's. "Right," he began, sweeping an appraising eye over the various products they had amassed. "I'll have to total the clothes first, but these should bring you into the neighborhood of two thousand minbi, at any rate."

Mokona and the children crowded around the counter as Shougo began to quickly tally the items with a handheld scanner (Syaoran kept his gaze averted for the most part, while Fai lingered a few feet away from Kurogane, watching the proceedings with a vague smile). It hadn't occurred to Kurogane just how much clothing (underwear) exactly they could purchase with a thousand minbi—this had to be enough for the rest of the princess's lifetime, at least.

The sales assistant moved on to scan Fai's rope and handcuffs, and when that was done, he said brightly, "Now, you've got about twelve hundred minbi's worth of items here. I'll just run through the things I've picked out, so you know what you're getting with the rest of your money. Feel free to stop me if you have any objections."

Fai waved for him to go ahead, and Shougo began a running commentary, with every bit of a professional air that left Kurogane staring.

"I got you guys a few bottles of lubrication—some oil, some water-based. Be careful, though, the condoms only work with the water-based ones." He scanned these, and swept the things into a plastic bag. "Plus some condoms, of course. Can't be too safe, can we?"

Kurogane wasn't even going to respond to that. Would the kids need those? Maybe. It wasn't any of his business.

"Of course, I'm sure you know that oil-based lubrication works better where anal penetration is concerned," Shougo went on to say, and for a long moment, the words echoed in Kurogane's head, increasing in volume to the point where he wasn't sure if he was going to lose his temper at himself, or Shougo, or Fai for simply being around.

So he gaped, for an utter lack of words to say. (Fai's smile had grown brittle.)

(And no, they had not done any penetrating of that sort.)

( _Not yet,_  his mind added.)

"I— I think Sakura-hime and I will wait outside," Syaoran stammered, looking for all the world like a tinder about to combust. "We'll wait for you until you're ready, Fai-san, Kurogane-san."

"Mokona will go too!" the white lump squealed, and she followed as the children hurried out of the shop.

Shougo smirked. "Well, that was for the best, I think. Back to your purchase—I noticed that you were interested in the manga we have in stock (you didn't replace them exactly right, mind) so I'm including a handful in case you happen to like them."

Kurogane only noticed the books hidden behind a set or two of clothing when the lanky salesman mentioned them, and he was sure he would incinerate from the humiliation running through his veins. Fai was giving him a pointed, questioning look; he didn't know what to say to hurry this situation along—no way was he leaving to let the idiot deal with this alone. Damn Tomoyo for sending him on this journey. Damn the feather for landing in this shop of all places.

"I've included some of the glass and silicone dildos as well," Shougo was saying. "Both of these can be cleaned in boiling water, and the glass ones are a specialty of our shop—they don't break easily, though you'd want to avoid chipping them all the same."

Kurogane wasn't sure what he missed as the cashier continued to shove various items into the bag, since all he could really comprehend was that those books he'd glanced at (and was very briefly interested in) were soon to be in his possession. He didn't want to read them, he really didn't. But there wasn't any harm in inspecting them, was there? To see if they contained captivating plot of some sort? What he was truly distracted by was that the stupid white thing would know when he asked to retrieve them—Mokona read his manga. Mokona wailed when his manga volumes were destroyed before she could look at them.

_Oh, hell no._

"So that rounds out to two thousand and eight minbi for these products," Shougo concluded. "We can waive the eight minbi, considering that your grand total is six thousand anyway."

"We'd appreciate that! Kuro-rin? Is there something wrong?" Fai was frowning at him, almost shrewdly, and Kurogane turned his glower on the mage instead.

"That pork bun reads manga," he said shortly, if just to point out the severity of their situation. "If she gets her paws on those—"

The uncertain look that flitted across Fai's countenance was slightly gratifying. "Well, um," the mage dallied, glancing between Kurogane and the bags. "You seemed to be interested in those books—"

"I am not!" he snapped, heat crawling up his neck.

The blond sent him a considering glance then, shrugged. "I'm curious about them now," he said with a little, secretive smile that grated on Kurogane's nerves. "So I vote that we keep them, and tell Mokona that they're for adults only."

He swallowed hard. "Fine."

(No, it was not, because then Fai would see what had caught his attention (momentarily, for fuck's sake).)

They ended up paying and leaving the store, and the kids were blessedly well out of hearing, lingering at the railings around the central elevator well and talking. (Mokona was using their voices again, that little brat.)

All told, the visit could have gone a lot worse, Kurogane grudgingly acknowledged.

* * *

Their next stop was a little clinic some bit of a walk from the mall. Like in Outo, Kurogane hefted Fai over his shoulder so they wouldn't all be stuck walking at his pace, and ground his teeth while the mage joked with the kids about whatever it was in his fluff-filled head.

With the feather in their possession and the cars sold, Mokona had spit their travelling clothes out while they were waiting in the clinic for Fai's turn to see the doctor—they hadn't much else holding them back in this world, after all. The four of them had got dressed (the doctor frowned disapprovingly at "cosplayers who horsed around"), and Syaoran and the princess had disappeared for a bit to get some water from the steel fountain down the hall. At the moment, the doctor had left the room minutes ago to gather some paperwork.

"Mage," Kurogane muttered, painted white wall at his back as he looked down his nose at Fai. The other man was sitting in a chair, fur-trimmed robes pulled tight around himself, calf and ankle wrapped in some sort of a plastic splint. His arm and shoulder injuries had been patched up as well—Kurogane saw to that. "What went on with the kid's ex-mentor when you were at that shop?"

Fai shrugged, smiled blankly at him. "Not all that much, Kuro-tan. Why do you ask?"

It was annoying, that fake smile, and his fingers twitched in anticipation of wringing the idiot's neck. "It wasn't even the princess, and you drew a barrier to protect her anyway. Then you blew a hole in the wall and even got yourself hurt."

The blond winced a little; his grin faltered. "That's not something you should be concerned about, you know."

He bristled, took a step forward to close the distance around them, and curled his fingers around the man's collar. "It fucking concerns me and you know it," he said through gritted teeth. "You've made yourself a liability and damaged one of the cars. Even the kids are worried about you. We shouldn't have to go over this so many times."

"I—" Something in Fai's blue, blue eyes flickered, and he opened his mouth to speak. His Adam's apple bobbed.

A sudden exclamation seeped in through the walls. The door burst open. Kurogane tensed; Sakura and Syaoran were in the hallway, Mokona in the princess's arms and her gem glowing, thin wings spreading out of her back.

"Fai-san, Kurogane-san," Syaoran exclaimed, anxiety dark in his eyes. "Mokona—"

The magic circle stretched along the floor, wind gusting around it; Kurogane hauled Fai out of his chair and towards the children, and then the ground was falling away from under their feet.

It shouldn't matter that they were right on the edge of Mokona's circle, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading/reviewing! This closes the flying rock island arc of this series. I'm sorry Seishirou's appearance was just as sudden and inexplicable as Rondart's in _the sword to my shield_ \- I hope to not pull weird stuff like that next arc (which is Yama!). All the same, it served its purpose: cause for a great amount of trolling in the lingerie shop. ;) LOL I'm such a troll.
> 
> The Yama arc will be posted under a different title - not sure what it'll be yet. Before that happens, though, I will be posting a 4-5 part KuroFaiYuui fic set in Shiritsu Horitsuba Gakuen, tentatively titled " _Ternary_ ". Previews are already up on my tumblr. ;)
> 
> So amazed by the responses/faves/follows that _when flight falls short_ has accumulated. :) Have a great weekend, you guys!

**Author's Note:**

> Always open to constructive criticism. Thank you for taking the time to read/review! :)


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